The Turkish president said on Friday that there was no shift in Turkey's axis.

Replying to a question of a reporter in Istanbul asking whether there has been any changes in Turkey's foreign policy, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said, "No, there is not. Look, this is the European side of Istanbul, there is the Asian side over there and the bridge stands right in the middle".

Commenting on the talks he held with members of the Media Association regarding the bans against web-sites Youtube and Google, Gul said Turkey should not be dealing with such restrictions.

Gul said he asked the officials to brief him on whether the problems concerning these web-sites stemmed from financial issues, and continued, "These problems should be solved anyway. If certain laws are needed then they should be issued and these companies should set up companies in Turkey".

Gul also said Turkey would never desire to have the image of a restrictive country.

Video-sharing web-site "YouTube" was banned upon a decision of the Ankara 1st Penal Court of Peace on May 5, 2008 on charges of opposing to the Law on Crimes Against Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Turkey's Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday that the Turkish finance ministry has accrued 30 million Turkish liras (TL) of tax to Youtube due to its generating advertising revenues in Turkey.


AA