Wikileaks blocked in Turkey after 'Erdogan Emails' leak

Wikileaks blocked in Turkey after 'Erdogan Emails' leak
Close to 300,000 emails - many from President Erdogan's office - have been released by whistle-blower website Wikileaks, as Turkey experiences a fierce crackdown on government critics.
2 min read
20 July, 2016
Ankara's police HQ after being bombed during the failed July 15 coup [AFP]


Turkish authorities blocked access to the Wikileaks website on Wednesday, as the whistleblower website released a cache of 300,000 emails from the country's ruling Justice and Development Party.

The move came as the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continued its far-reaching crackdown on opponents from the public and private sectors.

Over 50,000 people have been sacked, suspended or arrested in the purge.

The emails were sent between 2010 to this month, and were obtained a week before Friday's coup attempt.

Wikileaks was due to release the emails at a later date, but pushed forward publication "in response to the government's post-coup purges". 

It also added that it had "verified the material and the source, who is not connected, in any way, to the elements behind the attempted coup, or to a rival political party or state".

The website was blocked by Turkey's telecommunications board, who called the move an "administrative measure"- a term commonly used when the country's government prevents access to a website.

The measure came into effect hours before a national security meeting that brought Erdogan, cabinet members and military officials together in the Turkish capital of Ankara for the first time since the attempted coup.

Prior to the release of the "Erdogan Emails" Wikileaks took to Twitter to say: "Get ready for a fight as we release 100,000+ docs on Turkey's political power structure". 

Now it claims 800,000 documents in total will be released.

Since being blocked in the country, the information transparency website has tweeted links providing alternative means for Turkish users to override the censors.