A Turkish court has suspended access to YouTube after prosecutors told the court that clips insulting former Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had appeared on the site.

The offending videos had already sparked a storm of complaints to YouTube, who had been removing them. But after a clip was posted dubbing Ataturk and Turks homosexuals, the court decided to go further and block al access to the site.

Turkish visitors to the site are now greeted with a message in English and Turkish reading “Access to www.youtube.com site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/384 dated 06.03.2007 of Istanbul First Criminal Peace Court”.

The clip in question violates Turkey’s infamous Article 301, which makes “insulting Turkishness” and offence.

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