Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul challenged on Friday the ban on Twitter imposed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Gul himself used Twitter to express criticism, by posting on his account that "shutdown was unacceptable".

Turkey restricted access to Twitter hours after prime minister, Recep Erdogan, threatened to shut down the platform after users published claims of corruption against him.

Users reported on Friday that they were forwarded from twitter.com to a statement from Turkey's telecoms regulator, TIB, which cited court orders for the site's apparent closure.

Turkey will close the Bosphorus for Russian ships, if there is violence against the Crimean Tatars, said Turkish prime minister Recep Erdogan. 

Turkey is set to close private preparatory schools owned by cleric Fethullah Gulen, after President Gul approved the measure.

Earlier in March, Parliament decided that schools be closed by September 1, 2015, but the move was pending as it awaited the President Abdullah Gul's signature.

Two people died on Wednesday during protests across Turkey after the funeral of a boy wounded during anti-government clashes last year.

One demonstrator has died in clashes in Istanbul. The second victim is a police officer who is said to have had a heart attack while dealing with the unrest, as the BBC reports.

Abdullah Gul, the President of Turkey, declared himself against a possible ban on social media.

On Friday, he announced a blockade of Facebook and YouTube that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had suggested earlier is "out of question", as he was quoted as saying by German magazine Der Spiegel.

Turkish PM promises to ban Facebook and YouTube

ANKARA -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he would ban the use of Facebook and YouTube in Turkey after the March 30 elections in that country.

"There are new measures that will be taken after March 30, including a ban on Facebook and YouTube," Erdogan told private Turkish television ATV.

Turkey's Erdogan visits Georgia