Turkey’s Constitutional Court this week appears to have opened its own Twitter account – and to have quickly amassed over 50,000 followers across just six tweets – amid legal and political battles that have seen the Court brush off demands by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) to uphold a government ban on the popular micro-blogging platform.

Ankara had imposed a blackout on Twitter, as well as on the video platform YouTube, on the eve of recent nationwide local elections. The move was widely seen as an effort to dampen coverage of an ongoing graft scandal that has ensnared top AKP elites.

The Court subsequently overturned the restrictions on Twitter, though Erdogan and his allies have loudly called for the decision to be reversed and for the ban to be reimposed. Ankara’s restrictions have generated international ridicule, though top officials have sought to maintain them in the face of both domestic and overseas criticism.

NOW media reported last week that Turkey’s Information and Communications Technologies Authority was flat out ignoring two separate court orders compelling the government to lift the ban YouTube.

In a statement, Turkey’s Information and Communications Technologies Authority (BTK) said the ban would remain as illegal content was still available on the video-sharing site. “The measure blocking access to the youtube.com internet site remains in place because some of the content [deemed illegal] keeps being broadcast,” the BTK said in a statement posted online.

The Court’s new Twitter account – @AYMBASKANLIGI – will be seen as a not particularly subtle dig against Erdogan.

[Photo: euronews / YouTube]