Turkey ? A 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.”

Visitors to the YouTube site from Turkey were greeted with the message: “Access to this site has been blocked by a court decision! …”

The court – acting on a petition from Turk Telekom – ruled later Wednesday that it would revoke the ban as soon as it ascertained that the offending videos had been removed from YouTube.

During the past week, Turkish media publicized what some called a “virtual war” between Greeks and Turks on YouTube, with people from both sides posting videos to belittle and berate the other.

The video prompting the ban allegedly said Ataturk and the Turkish people were homosexuals, news reports said.