A Turkish court has reordered telecom providers in the country to block access to popular video-sharing website YouTube. Reports surfacing in the Turkish media suggest that the ban, was a response to video clips insulting the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

The news of the ban spread on the Internet and foreign observers condemn the move as a violation of freedom of expression.

Turkish visitors to the site are now greeted with a message in English and Turkish reading: "Access to www.youtube.com site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2008/55 of T.R. Ankara 12th Criminal Court of Peace."

A Turkish court issued a similar order in March 2007 in response to a "virtual war" on YouTube between Turkey and Greece, in which citizens of both countries have been creating videos to mock the other. In September, a court in Sivas ordered a ban after saying video on the site insulted Ataturk, President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the army, but the ban was never implemented.

It still is unclear which video exactly is to blame, but some media sources say that a problem video compared Ataturk with a monkey.

In Turkey, insulting Ataturk is an imprisonable offense. Similarly, "insulting Turkishness" is also a serious crime under the controversial Article 301 of Turkey's penal code. Critics say Turkey has used Article 301 to silence government critics which has presented a stumbling block to the country’s proposed accession to the European Union.

The European Union has long called for an easing of Article 301 arguing that the law places severe restrictions on free speech in Turkey. About 50 writers in the country have been put on trial for allegedly contravening the rule, including Nobel prizewinner Orhan Pamuk, though most cases have eventually been dismissed by the judge.

It is not clear how long the current ban would last. YouTube officials issued a statement saying the company hoped access would be re-established quickly.

Turkey is not the first country to block YouTube however. In 2007, the Thai government blocked access to the popular site for 4 months because of clips the government deemed "offensive" towards the Thai monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej. And in May 2007 Moroccans were unable to access YouTube after users posted videos critical of Morocco's treatment of the people of Western Sahara, a territory that Morocco took control of in 1975.

An official blamed a technical glitch, but could not explain its nature or why it affected only the YouTube site. In the past, YouTube was also banned in Brazil because the service published videos with Daniela Cicarelli, Ronaldo's ex-wife and Brazilian model. Daniella filed a complaint against the online video-sharing service, sustaining YouTube published numerous videos without her authorization. Although Google mentioned its employees removed the clips several times but the users uploaded them back, a Brazilian court banned the video service until the company removes all the Daniela movies from the page.