Turkey PM warns of banning YouTube, Facebook for driving corruption scandal

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reportedly warned that popular social media networks YouTube and Facebook could be banned in the country after a number of online leaks added momentum to a corruption scandal.

Erdogan said in an interview that the government would take new steps to tighten their grip over Internet after 30th March, including a ban on these sites.

However, President Abdullah Gul, a frequent social media user, said that Facebook and Youtube were recognized platforms all over the world and a ban was out of the question, News 24 reports.

Erdogan's proposals come in light of the recent leaks, including audio recordings in which he and his son allegedly discussed how to hide vast sums of money and another in which he is shown allegedly meddling in trade deals and court cases.

The premier has waged a war against ally-turned-opponent Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric based in the US with strong influence over the country's police and the judiciary, calling the so-called 'Gulenists' of acting like a 'parallel state.

He has vowed to cleanse the state of the movement's supporters by purging police and passing laws to increase his grip over the Internet and the judiciary, the report said.

Erdogan is known for his intolerance towards social media and is openly suspicious of the Internet and branding Twitter a "menace."

The report said that access to thousands of websites have been blocked in recent years in Turkey and Youtube was previously banned for two years until 2010 because of material deemed insulting to the country's still-revered founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.