Turkish citizens have no longer access to Wikipedia, as the Telecommunication Authority in the country (BTK) says that the online encyclopedia is a "threat" for Turkey's national security.

"After technical analysis and legal consideration ... an administrative measure has been taken for this website (Wikipedia.Org)," the BTK telecommunications watchdog said in a statement on its website.

It cited a law that allows it to block access to individual web pages or entire websites for the protection of public order, national security or the well being of the public.

The watchdog is required to submit such measures to a court within 24 hours. A Turkish court on Saturday upheld the ban.

Turkey has been frequently blocking access to social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook, particularly in the aftermath of militant attacks. In other cases, the Turkish government has blocked access to some web sites in order to stop the spread of militant images and propaganda, although officials have blames blaming outages on high web traffic after major events.

The Telecommunication Authority (now renamed Bilgi Iletisim ve Teknolojileri Kurumu or BTK), while technically an independent organization, is still controlled by Turkey's Ministry of Transport and Communications.