The block comes after leaked audio seems to record Turkish officials discussing Syria.
Turkey has reportedly banned user access to YouTube as a safety concern a week after it blocked the micro-blogging platform Twitter.
The latest curb comes in the wake of an audio recording of a high-level security meeting being leaked on the video sharing site, which reportedly involved officials including Turkish Intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Feridun Sinirlioglu and Deputy Chief of The General Staff, Yasar Gürel, discussing the military operation in Syria.
According to local media reports, Turkey’s telecommunications authority (TIB) implemented the move as a ‘precautionary administrative measure’.
However, Reuters cited a source at the prime minister’s office saying that the move was implemented after the leak blew into a ‘national security issue’, adding that Turkey was negotiating with YouTube and may undo the ban if it agreed to take down the content.
Last week, Twitter was banned after the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned to shut down the micro-blogging service amid claims of corruption against him being posted on the site.
This is the second time YouTube was blocked in Turkey, when it first happened in 2008 amid claims that videos on the site were deemed insulting to the country’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
