DHAKA: Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has escalated his salvo against the ‘double standards’ of Twitter, while also defiantly warning Facebook and YouTube to ‘obey Turkish laws’.

‘Twitter obeys the American Constitution, British, German, Chinese, and Russian (laws). But when it comes to Ukraine, when it comes to Egypt, when it comes to Turkey, it speaks about freedom,’ Erdoğan said during a massive electoral rally in Istanbul.

‘We are not a third world country. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube should respect the Turkish Constitution and obey Turkish laws,’ he said, to the cheers of hundreds of thousands of Justice and Development Party (AKP) supporters in a brand new giant rally area in Yenikapı, constructed by filling the Marmara Sea.

‘Twitter, Facebook, YouTube - can they say ‘freedom’ if they publish the confidential conversations of the US president? They can’t. Do they remember freedom when it comes to Turkey?’ Erdoğan added.

He stated that action had been taken after a court decision ruling for the banning of access to accounts that apparently violated the privacy rights of plaintiffs.

BDST: 1323 HRS, MAR 24, 2014