Turkey Tightens the Screws: 16 VPN Providers Banned
Dec 19, 2023 @ 11:30 am
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Turkey’s Information and Communications Technologies Authority (BTK) announced a ban on access to the most popular VPN companies operating in Turkey.
The crackdown seeks to prevent access to voices critical of the current government. Direct access to news outlets such as German-origin DW Türkçe and the Turkish edition of Voice of America (VOA Türkçe) is already banned. More than 700,000 web sites are banned in Turkey.
Among the VPN providers banned include Proton VPN, Surfshark VPN, IPVanish and CyberGhost VPN.
Article 22 of the Turkish constitution states that “Everyone has the freedom of communication. Privacy of communication is fundamental.” Article 28 says “The press is free, and shall not be censored” and “The State shall take the necessary measures to ensure freedom of the press and information.” DW Türkçe is already in court fighting against its web site ban.
Turkey scores a dismal 30 out of 100 on FreedomHouse’s ratings.
Are you using a VPN in Turkey?” Who do you use?

Raindog308 is a longtime LowEndTalk community administrator, technical writer, and self-described techno polymath. With deep roots in the *nix world, he has a passion for systems both modern and vintage, ranging from Unix, Perl, Python, and Golang to shell scripting and mainframe-era operating systems like MVS. He’s equally comfortable with relational database systems, having spent years working with Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.
As an avid user of LowEndBox providers, Raindog runs an empire of LEBs, from tiny boxes for VPNs, to mid-sized instances for application hosting, and heavyweight servers for data storage and complex databases. He brings both technical rigor and real-world experience to every piece he writes.
Beyond the command line, Raindog is a lover of German Shepherds, high-quality knives, target shooting, theology, tabletop RPGs, and hiking in deep, quiet forests.
His goal with every article is to help users, from beginners to seasoned sysadmins, get more value, performance, and enjoyment out of their infrastructure.
You can find him daily in the forums at LowEndTalk under the handle @raindog308.
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