Yandex Faces the Army, Wins Over Mynet

Yandex, who celebrated its first anniversary and first percent search share in Turkey last week, received rather cold compliments from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK): They got served!

National Intelligence Organization (MİT) recently sent secret memo # 35212741 to the Ministry of Interior and warned the ministry of the mapping efforts by the Russian search engine, announced^TR Vatan on Friday based on unnamed sources. Upon realizing that Yandex has already made public the panoramic street view photographs of complexes owned by MİT, TSK, and Presidential Palace, Ministry Deputy Secretary Mustafa Bahrettin Demirer warned the governors nationwide to ask for permission from the said organizations before authorizing any activity by the search engine.

In developments that might be related to MIT’s memo, Turkish Armed Forces presented a petition to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office today to bring to legal attention Yandex’s photographic documentation of prohibited areas, which are protected under the law. Yandex immediately issued a public announcement declaring that, although the company currently has no official information on the existence of such a petition, Yandex has always obtained the necessary permissions from the local governorates, and will cooperate fully with the Turkish General Staff to swiftly resolve any past or future misunderstanding.

On brighter news, Yandex landed a search partnership with Mynet^TR, the largest internet portal of Turkey. The partnership, which is currently live, pairs the Yandex search engine and the search box of the popular portal. With 17 million unique monthly users and varied services like publishing AskMen Turkey, Mynet is currently the 10^th most popular website in the country, ranking top 500 globally according to Alexa rankings.

This is a huge partnership for the Russian search giant, which has been battling the ubiquitous Google, and should increase the search ratings quickly. Yandex’s maps are gaining faster recognition among Turkish users. The TSK-disputed Panorama^TR function—covering İstanbul, Ankara, and soon, Bursa—is the only street view service in the country, and Yandex’s local traffic maps are the leader in use and functionality.