Access to social media and sharing websites has been blocked in Access to social media and sharing websites has been blocked in Turkey following the arrests of 11 Kurdish-backed politicians, according to an internet monitoring group.

At around 1am local time on Friday monitoring network Turkey Blocks, which provides a live feed of internet shutdown incidents in the country, confirmed that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were all “blocked by throttling”, a method of slowing certain websites to the point where they are unusable.

Minutes later another tweet was posted stating that Whatsapp had also been blocked – the first time the popular messaging app has seen nationwide restrictions in recent years.

The block was still in place by mid-morning, with Turkey Blocks describing it as a “developing incident”.

It was first detected on national provider TTNet, Turkcell and then on other major internet service providers, with users of other smaller providers reportedly not yet affected at the time of writing.

The incident was believed to be related to the detention of the two co-leaders of a Kurdish-backed opposition party, People's Democracy (HDP), as well as at least nine MPs , as part of what the government said was a counter-terrorism inquiry.

Internet restrictions are increasingly being used in Turkey to suppress media coverage of political incidents, a form of censorship deployed at short notice to prevent civil unrest.

Earlier this week the internet was completely shut down in Turkey’s southeast, affecting some six million people and reportedly preventing the supply of medical supplies to patients and crippling the region's infrastructure.

 In pictures: Turkey coup attempt  

 17 show all   In pictures: Turkey coup attempt

  1/17 Turkish President Erdogan attends the funeral service for victims of the thwarted coup in Istanbul at Fatih mosque on July 17, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey Burak Kara/Getty Images

2/17 Soldiers involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge with their hands raised in Istanbul on 16 July, 2016 Gokhan Tan/Getty

3/17 A civilian beats a soldier after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 REUTERS/Murad Sezer

4/17 Surrendered Turkish soldiers who were involved in the coup are beaten by a civilian Reuters

5/17 Soliders involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge Getty

6/17 Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wave flags as they capture a Turkish Army vehicle Getty

7/17 People pose near a tank after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 Reuters

8/17 Turkish soldiers block Istanbul's Bosphorus Brigde Getty

9/17 A Turkish military stands guard near the Taksim Square in Istanbul Reuters

10/17 Pierre Crom/Twitter

11/17 Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim square AP

12/17 Murad Sezer/Reuters

13/17 Turkish soldiers detain police officers during a security shutdown of the Bosphorus Bridge Reuters

14/17 Turkish Army armoured personnel carriers in the main streets of Istanbul Getty

15/17 Chaos reigned in Istanbul as tanks drove through the streets EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU

16/17 Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks to media in the resort town of Marmaris Reuters

17/17 Supporters of President Erdogan celebrate in Ankara following the suppression of the attempted coup Reuters

Turkey remains under a state of emergency that was imposed after a Turkey remains under a state of emergency that was imposed after a failed coup in July, which allows President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government to bypass parliament when drafting new laws and to restrict or suspend rights and freedoms.