Turkish authorities announced today that they have restored access to social media platform Instagram after the company agreed to cooperate with authorities to address the government’s concerns.

On August 2, the Turkish government’s Directorate of Information Technologies suspended access to Instagram in Turkey on the grounds that the platform did not comply with the country’s “laws and rules” and public sensitivities.

In a post days before the ruling, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman, Fahrettin Altun, blamed Instagram for removing posts expressing condolences for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya.

“I strongly condemn the social media platform Instagram, which actively prevents people from posting messages of condolence on the death of Hamas leader Haniya, without citing any violation of its policy. This is censorship, plain and simple. We will defend freedom of speech against these platforms that have shown many times that they are primarily in the service of the global exploitative system of injustice,” Altun had stressed.

Turkey is one of the fiercest critics of Israel’s military offensive on the Gaza Strip, and Ankara condemns what it calls the West’s unconditional support for Israel.

The nine-day ban sparked protests from users and small- and medium-sized businesses that reach out to their customers through the platform.

Turkey ranks fifth in the world in terms of Instagram usage, with more than 57 million users, following India, the US, Brazil and Indonesia, according to data platform Statista.

“As a result of our negotiations with Instagram officials, we will lift the access barrier…after they promised to cooperate in meeting our requests regarding the list of crimes and censorship imposed on users,” said the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloglou with a post on H.

The list of crimes in Turkish law include acts such as murder, sexual assault, drug trafficking, abuse and torture.

“Significant strides have been made in terms of increasing security in the digital environment in Turkey, legal compliance, protecting users’ rights and developing a fair inspection mechanism,” Uraloglou said.

Meta, which owns Instagram, has agreed to comply with Turkish law and ensure the effective removal of posts and content if they contain evidence of certain crimes or “terrorist propaganda,” the minister added.

Instagram was not immediately available for comment.

“Measurements show that Instagram is being restored on all of Turkey’s major internet providers after nine days of nationwide restrictions. This is the country’s longest ban on a major social media platform in recent years,” internet watchdog Netblocks said.