The Turkish Constitutional Court concluded that the blocking of all language editions of the Wikipedia website in Turkey violated the right to freedom of expression guaranteed under Article 26 of the Constitution. Access to Wikipedia was blocked on April 28, 2017 by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority following a request from the Prime Ministry on the grounds of maintaining national security and public order under article 8/A of the Law no. 5651. The administration decision was then reviewed and approved by the Ankara 1. Criminal Judgeship of Peace. The blocking decision was issued after Wikipedia refused to remove two articles in English that claimed the Turkish Government was sponsoring terrorist organizations in Syria, which the Government believed tarnished its reputation. The Constitutional Court found the interpretation of the grounds for the interference overly broad, making the legal basis unforeseeable and could have a substantial chilling effect. The Court concluded that the blanket ban did not meet a pressing social need and constituted a disproportionate interference with Wikipedia’s right to impart information and ideas, and with the right to access information and ideas of two Wikipedia users from Turkey who lodged user-based applications. The Court, however, refused another user-based application by a civil society association on the ground that it was not directly and personally affected by the blocking.