ANKARA – Turkey’s internet watchdog has blocked access to international whistleblowing platform WikiLeaks’ website after it released a cache of about 300,000 government emails.
The action was held following last weekend’s attempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The whistleblower organisation released hundreds of thousands of emails from Erdogan’s ruling AK Party.
The country’s Telecommunications Communications Board called the move an “administrative measure,” a term commonly used by the organisation when blocking access to specific websites.
WikiLeaks managed to publish the 294,548 emails on Tuesday, despite its website being subject to a massive cyber attack.
“We have 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,” added the whistleblowing site, which has previously insisted that it is neither pro- nor anti-government, but rather serves “the truth,” according to a press release.
