If by any chance you find yourself in Turkey, well, you won’t be able to rely on the world’s favourite online encyclopaedia for any information or trivia.

Turkey has blocked access to the website according to Reuters, citing a law allowing it to ban access to individual web pages or entire websites deemed obscene or a threat to national security, for the protection of public order, national security or the well-being of the public.

“After technical analysis and legal consideration … an administrative measure has been taken for this website (Wikipedia.Org),” the BTK telecommunications watchdog said in a statement on its website.

Turkey’s communications ministry said Wikipedia was attempting to run a “smear campaign” against Turkey, saying some articles purported that Ankara was coordinating with militant groups, state-run Anadolu news agency reported. “Instead of coordinating against terrorism, it has become part of an information source which is running a smear campaign against Turkey in the international arena,” Anadolu quoted the ministry as saying in a statement.

The ban would be lifted if Wikipedia met the government’s demands, Anadolu said.

Under the law, the watchdog is required to submit its ban to a court within 24 hours. The court then has two days to decide whether the ban should be upheld.

When attempting to access the webpage using Turkish internet providers, users received a notice the site could not be reached and a “connection timed out” error.

Source: Reuters. Post edited to summarise.