A Turkish court has ordered local ISPs to block access to YouTube after the publication of a video that mocked the nation's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. 

The video displayed pictures of the founding father of modern Turkey with insults superimposed in English. The clip prompted a slew of responses attacking Greece and questioning the sexuality of its citizens. 

YouTube has since removed the video and the ban on the website has reportedly been lifted. It is unclear when access to YouTube will be restored.

The video was reportedly uploaded by an ethnic Greek from Cyprus, over which Turkey and Greece have been battling for years.

Turkey invaded the territory in 1974 and created the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus that is recognised only by Turkey.

Turkey has an uneasy relation with freedom of speech. The nation's penal code makes it a crime to insult 'Turkishness'. 

Courts routinely press charges against writers and journalists for mentioning the Armenian genocide of 1915-1917. 

Turkey denies that a coordinated ethnic cleansing ever occurred and blames the deaths on collateral damage from World War 1 and natural circumstances.