Porn-Riddled Twitter Is Bad For Turks, But Ass-Grabbing, Greased Wrestlers OK

Turkey's attempt to ban Twitter has failed miserably. Last week on March 20, the Turkish government, under the leadership of prime minister Recep Tayyip Erodogan, launched a complete ban on Twitter.

Twitter immediately responded by tweeting that Turkish users could send Tweets using SMS. And they did. Turkish citizens tweeted over 2.5 million times in the first 24 hours of the ban, setting new records for Twitter usage from that country. And virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow users to disguise their location, were also seeing significant usage spikes.

So what is the Turkish government's beef with Twitter? Burhan Kuzu, a senior member of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), issued a statement to Al Jazeera: "There are insults, swearing and porn about Turkish citizens on Twitter." He added: "There is content where photos of women are used in porn through Twitter. Turkish society cannot handle that."

But opponents say that prime minister Recep Erdogan's recent corruption scandal is really behind the ban. Recordings linking the prime minister to corrupt activities were leaked to YouTube and the Turkish government is trying to slow spread online. Turkey is also set to go to the voting polls on March 30 in local elections.

Meanwhile in other news: The Turkish government has also issued a warning that overly-sensitive Turks should stay away from Sarayiçi Er Meydani Stadium where bare-chested and heavily-oiled men are engaged in grease wrestling (Turkey's national sport). "To avoid turning into a pillar of salt," says an unnamed Turkish government official, "We recommend that all citizens avoid the area until we can get these men to stop shoving their hands down each other's pants."