AKIPRESS.COM - 
Turkey on Monday blocked access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube over the publication of images of a Turkish prosecutor killed by leftist militants during a hostage standoff last week, reports AFP.
The online sites were inaccessible for many users in Turkey, with the Hurriyet newspaper saying that service providers received an order from prosecutors to block those three internet giants as well as other websites.
The authorities set a deadline of four hours for Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to remove the offending content.
Facebook was initially the only one to comply with the deadline and access to the social network was restored accordingly, Tayfur Acarer, head of country's telecommunications authority (TIB), told Hurriyet.
The ban on Twitter was also lifted later after it also gave in to Turkey's demand, said Bulent Kentles, the secretary general of the union of Internet service providers (BSE).
However a Twitter source, who did not confirm that the social media platform had complied with Turkey's demand, said the company planned to appeal the Turkish court order.
Discussions with YouTube were ongoing, Hurriyet quoted Kentles as saying. YouTube.com ran the text of a court ruling on its site saying an "administration measure" had been implemented by TIB. Hurriyet said the order blocked a total of 166 websites which published the images, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Publication of any material related to the hostage standoff amounted to "terrorist propaganda" inciting people to "hatred and violence" and disturbing the public order, the court ruling read.
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