Turkey to block 'insulting' Web sites
April 6, 2007
CNN
Parliament plans to vote on the proposal, though a date was not announced. The proposal indicates the discomfort that many Turks feel about Western-style freedom of expression, even though Turkey has been implementing widespread reforms in its bid to join the European Union.
On Thursday, lawmakers in the commission also debated whether the proposal should be widened to allow the Turkish Telecommunications Board to block access to any sites that question the principles of the Turkish secular system or the unity of the Turkish state -- a reference to Web sites with information on Kurdish rebels in Turkey.
It is illegal in Turkey to talk of breaking up the state or to insult Ataturk, the revered founder of modern Turkey whose image graces every denomination of currency and whose portrait hangs in nearly all government offices.
Ataturk is held to be responsible for creating a secular republic from the crumbling, Islamic Ottoman Empire.
Several prominent Turkish journalists and writers, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, have been tried for allegedly insulting Ataturk or for the crime of insulting "Turkishness."
European calls for free speech have angered some nationalist Turks, who view the recommendations as interference in their internal affairs.
Last month, Turkey blocked access to the popular video-sharing site YouTube after a complaint that some videos insulted Ataturk. The ban was lifted two days later.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
CNN
Anything anywhere can be questioned and left to the individual to judge. Is this not the motto Turkey is using in denying the Armenian genocide? Apparently some things in Turkey cannot be questioned or even implied. Can Turkey not trust the individual judgments of its citizens? Why this paternalistic attitude?
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- A parliamentary commission approved a proposal Thursday allowing Turkey to block Web sites that are deemed insulting to the founder of modern Turkey, weeks after a Turkish court temporarily barred access to YouTube.Parliament plans to vote on the proposal, though a date was not announced. The proposal indicates the discomfort that many Turks feel about Western-style freedom of expression, even though Turkey has been implementing widespread reforms in its bid to join the European Union.
On Thursday, lawmakers in the commission also debated whether the proposal should be widened to allow the Turkish Telecommunications Board to block access to any sites that question the principles of the Turkish secular system or the unity of the Turkish state -- a reference to Web sites with information on Kurdish rebels in Turkey.
It is illegal in Turkey to talk of breaking up the state or to insult Ataturk, the revered founder of modern Turkey whose image graces every denomination of currency and whose portrait hangs in nearly all government offices.
Ataturk is held to be responsible for creating a secular republic from the crumbling, Islamic Ottoman Empire.
Several prominent Turkish journalists and writers, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, have been tried for allegedly insulting Ataturk or for the crime of insulting "Turkishness."
European calls for free speech have angered some nationalist Turks, who view the recommendations as interference in their internal affairs.
Last month, Turkey blocked access to the popular video-sharing site YouTube after a complaint that some videos insulted Ataturk. The ban was lifted two days later.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Labels: Turkey - Free Speech
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 2:36 PM
1 Comments:
I sometimes have difficulty in understanding the way the news are written or presented. Here, it is said that Turkey forbidden access to YouTube as a result of complaints about the insultation at Ataturk, or unique leader, who taught the world to stand against emparialism and delayed the "operations of the Imperial" for 80 years. In short, at those videos regarding our leader and country there were not only insultations, but also curses in which there were the words "mother" and "f...". We barbarian Turks (!) never approve such aactions, although some of us, unfortunately, gave reactions in the way the Greek and Armenian videosenders did. That's all.
Haberlerin yazılış ve sunuluş şeklini anlamakta bazen güçlük çekiyorum. Burada, Dünya'ya sömürgeciliğe karşı durmayı ve "Sömürgecinin harekatlarını" 80 yıl geciktiren, bizim eşşiz önderimize yapılan hakaretler sonucu Türkiye'nin YouTube adlı sieye girişi yasakladığı söyleniyor. Kısacası, önderimizi ve ülkemizle ilgili bu videolarda hakaretin yanında "ana" ve "s....." sözcüklerini içeren küfürler de vardı. Biz barbar Türkler (!), bazılarımız maalesef Yunanlı ve Ermeni video göndericiler gibi tepki verse de, bu türden eylemleri asla tasvip etmiyoruz. Bu kadar...
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