Turkey says Syria security leak "villainous" - blocks YouTube

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan describes the leaking of a recording of top security officials discussing possible military operations in Syria as "villainous." Deborah Lutterbeck reports.

Published

4 months ago

Categories

World

Topics

Europe, World

People

Deborah Lutterbeck, Marie Harf

Places

Syria, United States of America, Turkey

Companies

Twitter, Youtube

Transcript

Outrage in Turkey as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan decries an anonymous YouTube posting, purportedly of the country's intelligence chief discussing possible military operations in Syria. (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH PRIME MINISTER TAYYIP ERDOGAN SAYING: "Today they posted a video on YouTube. There was a meeting at the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Syria, on the tomb of Suleyman Shah, and they even leaked this on Youtube. This is villainous - this is dishonesty." Turkey is now blocking YouTube as a precaution. (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH PRIME MINISTER TAYYIP ERDOGAN SAYING: "Who are you serving by doing audio surveillance of such an important meeting?" The posting follows similar releases on social media in recent weeks which Erdogan says is a plot orchestrated by his political enemies to undermine him ahead elections March 30th. The U.S. opposes the Turkish government move to block social media. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf... (SOUNDBITE) (English) STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN MARIE HARF "Obviously as I said about Twitter, we oppose any action that encroaches on the right of free speech." A source in Erdogan's office says YouTube was blocked as a precaution after the voice recordings created a "national security issue."