Turkey has restricted access to Twitter hours after the prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, threatened to shut down the social media platform after users published claims of corruption against him. 
 
 Users reported on Friday that they were forwarded from twitter.com a statement from Turkey's telecoms regulator, TIB, which cited court orders for the site's apparent closure. 
 
 The statement cited four orders as the basis for blocking the site, where some users in recent weeks have posted voice recordings and documents purportedly showing evidence of corruption among Erdogan's inner circle. 
 
 Everyone will see how powerful the Republic of Turkey is. Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister 
 
 The state-run Anatolia news agency said authorities "technically blocked access to Twitter" because the service had ignored the orders to remove some links deemed illegal, the AFP news agency reported. 
 
 Turkey's telecommunications watchdog, BTK, has also confirmed the shutdown. 
 
 Turkey's president, Abdullah Gul, has denounced the ban, tweeting to more than four million followers: A complete ban on social media platforms cannot be approved. 
 
 In response to the outrage over the move, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said that it was temporary, adding that he expected a "mutual solution" to be reached. 
 
 Twitter said it was investigating the blocking, but had not issued a formal statement. The company did post a message instructing Turkish users on how to continue using the service via SMS text message. 
 
 Erdogan on Thursday promised to "root out" and "wipe out" Twitter services, which he said have helped his political enemies conduct a smear campaign against him. 
 
 "The international community can say this, can say that. I don't care at all. Everyone will see how powerful the Republic of Turkey is," he said. 
 
 In response to the shutdown, Turkey's main opposition party, Republican People's Party, announced it would file a legal challenge to the court order. 
 
 In a move that put him at odds with the prime minister, Turkish president Abdullah Gul also tweeted to denounce the government's move just hours after it was announced. 
 
 "A complete ban on social media platforms cannot be approved," Gul tweeted to his more than four million followers. 
 
 Leaked recordings shared and linked on Twitter include one in which Erdogan allegedly instructs his son to dispose of large amounts of cash from a residence amid a police corruption probe. 
 
 Erdogan insists the recordings are fabricated "vile fakes" and part of a plot to discredit the government ahead of the March 30 election. 
 
 Panic measure 
 
 Following his speech, Erdogan's office said he was referring to what it called Twitter's failure to implement Turkish court orders seeking the removal of some links and that they may be left with no option but to ban the platform. 
 
 "If Twitter officials insist on not implementing court orders and rules of law ... there will be no other option but to prevent access to Twitter to help satisfy our citizens' grievances," the statement said. 
 
 The apparent blocking was only the latest clash between Turkey's ruling party and social media companies including Google, Facebook and Twitter. 
 
 After a series of popular protests partly fuelled by Twitter last summer, Erdogan slammed the service as "a scourge". 
 
 In an interview with Al Jazeera on Friday, Andrew Finkel, co-founder of P24, an intiative to promote independent journalistm in Turkey, called the latest move as "a panic measure" aimed at stopping more allegations from surfacing. 
 
 "There's rumours of much more serious allegations to come," he said. 
 
 Erdogan said two weeks ago that Turkey could also ban Facebook and YouTube, which he says have been abused by his enemies after a stream of audio recordings purportedly revealing corruption in his inner circle emerged online. 
 
 His ruling AK Party has already tightened Internet controls, handed government more influence over the courts, and 
 
 reassigned thousands of police and hundreds of prosecutors and judges as it fights the corruption scandal. 
 
 However, a senior Turkish official told Reuters on Friday the government had no plans to block access to other social media platforms. 
 
 "At the moment there is no such decision for other social media like Facebook," the official said. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's James Reynolds tries to access the site 
 
 Twitter users in Turkey report that the social media site has been blocked in the country. 
 
 Some users trying to open the twitter.com website are apparently being redirected to a statement by Turkey's telecommunications regulator. 
 
 It cites a court order to apply "protection measures" on the website. 
 
 This comes after PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to "wipe out Twitter" following damaging allegations of corruption in his inner circle. 
 
 The BBC's James Reynolds in Istanbul reports that he is unable to access Twitter. 
 
 "I don't care what the international community says at all. Everyone will see the power of the Turkish Republic," Mr Erdogan said earlier on Thursday. 
 
 He spoke after some users had posted documents reportedly showing evidence of corruption relating to the prime minister - a claim he denies. 
 
 His office said that Twitter had not responded to Turkey's court rulings to remove some links, forcing Ankara to act. 
 
 Twitter has so far made no public comment on the issue. 
 
 There are about 10m Twitter users across Turkey. 
 
 In 2010, the country lifted its ban on YouTube - two years after it blocked access to the website because of videos deemed insulting to the country's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
– In Turkish Prime Minister's Recep Tayyip Erdogan's latest feud with social media, Twitter access has been blocked and he has threatened to entirely wipe out the service. "We now have a court order. We'll eradicate Twitter. I don’t care what the international community says. Everyone will witness the power of the Turkish Republic," he fumed at a campaign rally yesterday, the Hurriyet Daily News reports. Erdogan has been enraged in recent weeks by leaked recordings and documents revealing corruption in his inner circle, the BBC notes. Turkish users trying to access Twitter are being redirected to a statement from the country's telecommunication regulator that cites court orders against the site, although Twitter has posted a message telling users how to keep accessing the site via SMS, reports Al Jazeera. Erdogan—who blasted Twitter as a "scourge" after it was used to organize protests last summer—has also threatened to ban Facebook and YouTube, which was banned in the country until 2010 because of videos deemed "insulting to Turkishness."