Turkey blocks access to Wikipedia

Turkish authorities are reported to have blocked access to online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the latest in what government critics are calling a crackdown on free speech.

All language editions of the Wikipedia website was blocked at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, according to monitoring group Turkey Blocks.

"The loss of availability is consistent with internet filters used to censor content in the country," the group said.

Users attempting to access the Wikipedia webpage using Turkish internet providers, were met with a "connection timed out" error.

It is not the first time that monitoring groups have accused Turkey of blocking access to social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook, especially during the immediate aftermath of militant attacks.

The Turkish government has previously dismissed claims that it blocks access to parts of the internet, blaming outages on spikes in internet traffic after major events. Experts at watchdog groups, however, say the blackouts on social media are intentional and aimed, in part, at stopping the spread of militant images and propaganda.