Twitter Won't Open an Office in Turkey, Refusing Government Demands

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan looks on during a meeting with Chief of Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit and other top military commanders at headquarters of the Turkish armed forces in Ankara on Aug. 1, 2008.

Image: Burhan Ozbilici/Associated Press

By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai2014-04-16 09:21:45 -0500

Twitter will not open an office in Turkey, rejecting the Turkish government's demands to do so, forcing the company to pay taxes in the country.

A Twitter delegation is currently in Turkey to meet with government officials roughly two weeks after the country lifted the ban on the social network. Colin Crowell, Twitter's vice president and head of global public policy, said the meetings served to explain how Twitter responds to content removal requests and judicial orders and to re-establish "ties and open relations" with the government, as reported by The Wall Street Journal .

See also: 'Twitter, Mtwitter!': Turkish Prime Minister's 9 Craziest Quotes About Social Media

But for now, despite the fact that Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Twitter of being a "tax evader" on Saturday, Twitter won't open a branch in Turkey, which would be the first step to paying taxes in the country.

"We didn't agree to open an office; our decisions to open offices around the world are based upon whether the underlying economic climate justify it," Crowell told the WSJ.

In fact, the tax issue didn't even come up in the meetings, according to Crowell.

Late on Monday, local news organization Anadolu Agency reported that Twitter had agreed to act "more quickly and in a more sensitive manner" to Turkish courts rulings, and that the company had implemented five court decisions before the meetings "as a sign of good will."

Crowell said Twitter is ready to deploy local content bans, but it's unclear whether the company actually shut down any Twitter accounts ahead of the meetings, or whether it accepted any other demands from the Turkish government.

Mashable has reached out to Twitter for clarification, but hasn't heard back yet.

The meetings between Twitter and Turkish government officials are the latest chapter in the conflict between Turkey and U.S. social media companies. It began when Erdoğan blocked Twitter on March 20 and pledged to "eradicate" it, amid a series of leaks and documents that allegedly exposed corruption within Erdoğan's government.

Just a week later, the government blocked access to YouTube as well, after an alleged recording of a high-profile government meeting was posted on the video-sharing site.

The ban on Twitter was lifted after a series of legal challenges led the country's Constitutional Court to rule it in violation of Turks' free speech rights. YouTube, despite a recent court ruling ordering the government to unblock it, remains inaccessible.

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Topics: Internet freedom, Politics, taxes, turkey, Twitter, U.S., US & World