Though Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu joined world leaders in Paris just weeks ago in solidarity against Islamic extremism and in defense of the freedom of expression, the Islamist Turkey government has reportedly demanded that Facebook block users’ access to material authorities deemed offensive to Mohammed—and, according to an inside source, Facebook has complied.

The New York Times reports:  

To avoid being banned throughout Turkey, Facebook has blocked Turkish users’ access to a number of pages containing content that the authorities had deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad, according to a company employee with direct knowledge of the matter and a report by the state broadcaster TRT.

The company acted to comply with an order from a Turkish court, the employee said on Monday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because Facebook had not authorized the employee to speak publicly. The court order was issued late Sunday at the request of a local prosecutor in Ankara, the capital.

The Islamist government’s threat to ban Facebook is certainly not empty: the NYT notes that Turkey has temporarily cut off Twitter and YouTube services in the past for political purposes and “often intervenes to restrict content it finds objectionable.”

Upon return from the historic Paris march, Davutoglu vowed that the Turkish government would act to curb precisely the type of offensive material for which the journalists and cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo died. The Facebook threat and a recent inquiry into a Turkish newspaper that reprinted images from the first post-attack issue of Charlie Hebdo are part of the government's crackdown on offensive material.

According to Facebook, Turkey has asked the company to block almost 1,900 pieces of content, second only to India, which has requested that 5,000 items be blocked. Pakistan came in a close third, at around 1,700 items.