ISTANBUL, Turkey – A Turkish court ordered access to YouTube’s Web site blocked Wednesday, after a prosecutor recommended the ban because of videos allegedly insulting the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Paul Doany, head of Turk Telekom, Turkey’s largest telecommunications provider, said his company had immediately begun enforcing the ban.

“We are not in the position of saying that what YouTube did was an insult, that it was right or wrong,” Doany told the state-run Anatolia news agency. “A court decision was proposed to us, and we are doing what that court decision says.”

A message in both Turkish and English at the bottom of the YouTube page said, “Access to http://www.youtube.com site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/384 dated 06.03.2007 of Istanbul First Criminal Peace Court.”

Doany said Turk Telekom would allow access to the popular video-sharing site again if the court decision were rescinded. Access from Turkey might be possible through other service providers, he said.