Turkey prepares for elections

Didn't I read somewhere that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is considered to be closest to Obama of all foreign leaders? Didn't Obama host him in Washington last year? Well, Erdogan is facing a new election. To prepare for it, first he shut down Twitter access, now he has shut down You Tube and barred local media access. Joe Parkinson and Emre Peker write in the WSJ that Erdogan's actions have

consolidated Turkey's place in a small club of nations with draconian Internet censorship rules, including China, Syria and North Korea.

Photo by Associated Press

"Another desperate and depressing move in Turkey," Neelie Kroes, the European Commission vice president, said in a tweet. In Washington, senators introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning Turkey for blocking social media sites and stifling free speech.

Reuters photo of a man in Istanbul trying to access You Tube.

The apparent reason for the ban of You Tube is that a high level meeting was bugged, revealing Turkish plans to engage militarily with Syria.