Google, Others Blast Turkey Over Internet Clampdown

Google and other US companies alleged that Turkey's telecommunications firms impersonated their servers to block access to social-media sites, as the ruling party tried to squelch dissent around local elections.

The telecom moves targeted sites like Twitter and YouTube, which Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's detractors have used to organize and express dissent. Election results stunned his critics, as the opposition failed to check the premier's power amid the government's increasingly aggressive Internet blackout. Erdogan -- whose ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, took a greater-than-expected 46% of votes, trouncing his closest rival's 28% -- hailed the election as paving way for an era of what he called advanced democracy.