A Turkish court ruled Wednesday that the country 's ban on Twitter violates the right to free expression and demanded that citizens ' access to the popular microblogging service be restored . Three people filed complaints to the Constitutional Court after the Telecommunications Directorate blocked access to the social media website Twitter . The court sent its decision to the Telecommunications Directorate and the Transportation , Maritime and Communication Ministry , asking that necessary measures to restore the service be taken . Speaking to the daily newspaper Hurriyet , Metin Feyzioglu , president of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations , said , `` If they do n't abide by the ruling , we will file a criminal complaint against the ( Telecommunications Directorate ) by attaching the ruling of the Constitutional Court . '' A lower court overturned the Twitter ban last week , but access to the service has not been restored . Blaming social media for fueling anti-government rhetoric , Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to `` eradicate '' Twitter at a campaign rally in Bursa on March 20 . Within hours , Turkish Internet users were reporting widespread disruptions to Twitter . Outrage ensued as the hashtags # TwitterisblockedinTurkey and # DictatorErdogan began trending worldwide . Freedom of expression campaign group Index on Censorship said the ban , which it called `` censorship of which the worst authoritarian regimes would be proud '' was `` emblematic of the increasingly authoritarian tendencies '' of Erdogan . Wednesday 's court ruling did not address a YouTube ban that took place less than a week after Twitter was blocked .
Turkish court rules country 's ban on Twitter violates right to free expression . Lower court overturned ban last week , but government has yet to restore service . Comment: Wednesday 's ruling did not address a YouTube ban that came after one on Twitter .