Authorities in Turkey block country's access to Wikipedia

April 29 (UPI) -- Turkey has blocked all access to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia inside the country on Saturday morning.

Monitoring group Turkey Blocks detected the block on all language editions of the site across multiple service providers at about 8 a.m. local time.

Turkey's Information and Communication Technologies Authority confirmed the bar citing a law allowing it to obstruct certain websites to protect public order, national security or general public well being.

"After technical analysis and legal consideration based on the Law Nr. 5651 [governing the internet], an administrative measure has been taken for this website," the department said, according to the BBC.

No reason was given for the action, although the provisional administrative order will require a full court ruling in the next few days.

Turkish citizens have criticized law 5651 as a violation of freedom of expression used to limit citizens rights to the access of information.