ANKARA: Turkish Twitter users — led by the country’s president — on Friday defied a government ban on the social networking site as world leaders condemned the move and opposition leaders vowed to challenge it in court.

The popular micro-blogging site, one of several that have been used to publish allegations of corruption in Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s inner circle, went dark in Turkey late on Thursday.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul, a frequent user of social media, led the chorus of calls against the move, which comes days ahead of key local elections on March 30.

Government officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, also published tweets despite the ban as Turks took to the Internet to vent their fury.

“A complete ban on social media platforms cannot be approved,” tweeted Gul, adding that it is not “technically possible to totally block access to platforms used all over the world”.

Tweets from Turkey, which has 10 million users, were up 138 per cent on Friday afternoon compared to Wednesday, according to social media analyst Brandwatch. Opposition lawmaker Aykan Erdemir said his party would take “legal action” against the ban, warning that the move would put Turkey into a league of undemocratic countries.

“This is an unbelievable violation of fundamental rights and freedoms,” Erdemir, of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), said. Twitter responded by saying on its official @policy feed that Turks could get around the block by tweeting through mobile telephone text services.

A lawyer acting for Twitter held talks with the telecommunications authority on Friday, a Turkish official said. Local media said the US company had hired Gonenc Gurkaynak to challenge the ban.

Online, outraged Twitter users shared details of how to defy the ban, including using “virtual private networks” to get to the site or by making it seem like they are accessing from a different country.

European leaders said the move violated citizen’s rights to freedom of speech and could threaten Turkey’s bid to enter the 28-nation European Union.

“The ban... raises grave concerns and casts doubt on Turkey’s stated commitment to European values and standards,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said in a statement.

France labelled the move as “shocking” and “contrary to the freedom of expression and communication which are fundamental principles” of the EU.

Britain’s embassy in Turkey called on Ankara to reverse the decision, while a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel tweeted that “in a free society it is up to citizens to decide how to communicate, not the state”.

The ban on Twitter is the latest in a series of moves by Erdogan’s government to tighten its control of the Internet that have included the banning of thousands of websites.

Many Turks have turned to Twitter and Facebook to express their outrage since anti-government protests last year, complaining that mainstream media is under government pressure.—AFP