Wikipedians Respond to Block by Turkish Government

On Saturday 29 April 2017, Turkish authorities blocked access to Wikipedia inside the country.[1] This has led to the loss of access to large amounts of historical, cultural, and scientific knowledge for the people.

We, the undersigned members of the Wikimedia movement, believe that all people deserve access to independent high quality information in the language of their choosing and in a format they can use. While we are happy to respond to concerns about our content, governments or corporations do not determine our content. The final arbitrator in such decisions is generally community consensus, based on independent sources. We support freedom of expression and access to information.

A number of media reports have suggested, through claims attributed to Turkish authorities, that Wikipedians supported terrorism or created content “supporting terrorism”.[1][2] We are disappointed and surprised by the suggestion that our communities would support terrorism or violent action of any kind. This runs counter to the very nature of our work, which is to neutrally present the facts and major points of view. We do not support political agendas on Wikipedia. We do not support terrorism.

This statement complements those made by the Wikimedia Foundation.[3][4]

Some ways to still get access

See also

References