The blocking of Russia's Sputnik news agency site in Turkey is considered temporary until the court makes a final decision, a representative from the Turkish Telecommunications Department said Friday.
"We made the decision to block the site and the case has been sent to court. This procedure is expressed in the law, according to which a site is first blocked if there is some sort of information on it that contradicts the law, and then the case is sent to court, which will make a final decision to either reopen the site or to keep it closed," the Turkish Telecommunications Department source told RIA Novosti.
Sputnik, which is the foreign language news site in Russia's Rossiya Segodnya media holding, was blocked in Turkey on Thursday evening, citing "administrative measures."
"This morning the blocking of the site was confirmed. According to a representative from Turkey's Telecommunications Department, they are not obliged to warn anyone when closing a site," Tural Kerimov said.
In January 2015, the Turkish prime minister and other ministers received the right to block any type of resource in the Internet without a court order. The ministers may demand the Turkish Telecommunications Department and providers to block sites or delete content within four hours after receiving a notice of "national security, protection of social order, or for the prevention of crime."
