Turkey blocks access to WikiLeaks after it exposes lakhs of ruling party emails

Istanbul, July 20: Turkey has stopped access to the WikiLeaks website hours after the latter leaked thousands of emails of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) while the country was still coping with the aftermath of a failed military coup.

Around 50,000 state officials, including soldiers, policemen, judges, teachers and others have been either suspended of detained since the attempt to topple the Recep Tayyip Ergodan regime on July 15 failed to succeed. The western world criticised the counter-coup operations that have been undertaken by the regime after the episode which many felt has only strengthened Ergodan's hands.

On Tuesday (July 19), the WikiLeaks released nearly 3,00,00 emails dating between 2010 and July 6 this year said in its website that the date of their publication was brought ahead "in response to the government's post-coup purges".

Turkey's communication authorities said an "administrative measure" had been initiated against the website---a term which the country generally uses while blocking access to sites. The country, whose secular creed has come under increasing criticism over the last few years, is known for shutting down internet in the wake of political event, drawing flak from the human rights activists and outer world as a result.

Turkey, which has banned academics from leaving the country until further notice and also suspended over 15,000 education officials, accused US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen of masterminding the attempted coup last week, leading to the death of over 230 people. Gülen, howecer, denied the accusation.

Oneindia News