I’m jealous. RichardDawkins.net is banned in Turkey. Turkish viewers who attempt to read it get a blank screen with the words “Access to this site has been denied by court order” across the middle. The Turkish courts outlawed the site for this shocking post.
What do I have to do to get equal ire?
*OK, at least one up.
Yea but you got banned from a screening of Expelled, Dawkins only got his website banned from Turkey!
What do I have to do to get equal ire?
I could stat telling off color jokes again. :-)
Nah, they’d probably like those over there.
Here’s an article about sites banned in Turkey.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=151016
Quote: Web sites are most often banned on grounds that they insult the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, contain vulgarity, enable gambling or promote suicide.
So… you need to construct a vulgar story about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk committing suicide over gambling debts.
I’d do it for you, but I have a hibiscus to trim. It has white fly. :-(
Don’t forget about being banned from Nabisco factory tours.
Maybe you’ll have to put a nail in a Quran that is in Arabic, not in English.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
That ban is likely due to a frivolous libel claim by Oktar himself, he regularly gets websites that “libel” him banned in Turkey – he even got all of wordpress.com blocked for a while.
So if you want to even up with Dawkins, just tell the truth about Adnan Oktar…
So, Turkish courts have put Oktar in prison for 3 years, but have banned/blocked a website that says that they’ve jailed Oktar for 3 years?!
Am I the only one who finds that a bit weird and contradictory?
so is reuters.com also banned ?
Or did they ban RD.net only for the comments related to this post ?
I think better exposure of the koran in the trash maybe?
I don’t get it. The post on the Dawkins website is just a copy and paste of a news article from Reuters. Turkey is almost as backward as America.
Oktar, born in 1956, is the driving force behind a richly funded movement based in Turkey that champions creationism, the belief that God literally created the world in six days as told in the Bible and the Koran.
This should be rubbed into the face of American creationists. There is virtually no difference between Christian fundamentalists and Muslim fundamentalists. Both groups are scum and a disgrace to the human race.
And Turkey wonders why it can’t get into the EU…
A turkish commenter over at RD.net writes that the banning was actually for the comments in that thread (and not the post itself)… and that they banned the whole of wordpess for similar reasons !
It’d be interestng to know exactly which comments they found so damning.
My guess is that it shouldn’t be difficult now to write comments that get all of scienceblogs banned in Turkey…
Hope your next PZ. You are an arrogant, fundamentalist athiest who is really no different than the Christian, Moslem, and Jewish fundamentalists you and your followers abhor.
Oh Laura, such heart-warming ‘love thy neighbor’ jebustalk. It just makes me want to run out and join a church right now!
One up, P.Z? You may be married to a trophy wife, but is she a time lord?
PZ, just rename your blog: Pharyngula The Kurd
(That should do it.)
Laura, Jesus/Mohammed/Moses would be so proud of you.
I’m getting good at this. The second I read “… in Turkey” I knew it had to be something about Harun Yahya.
This guy is incredible. What I find most bizarre about him is that he’s trying to promote Islam, yet he copy-pastes age-old Christian creationist arguments to make his case. He’s sent his creationist books to schools all over Europe and now claims that they were “distributed” (and not, as they probably were, dumped in the trash). He’s got his rambly and weird website available in several European languages, with the most astounding misspellings in all of them. That man is a goldmine for crazy.
Really, PZ, if you want to get scienceblogs banned in Turkey, just writing a realistic description of his *cough* “publications” should do it.
I would love to add something about Atatürk now, but I’ll reduce it to “he tried to remove religious fundamentalism, only to be turned into something else to be fundamentalist about”.
Richard has more than enough fans in the sane world, so why the hell should we give a crap if even moderate islamic countries ban him. This also applies to rabid religionists such as Laura at # 12 who raises her pathetic voice in protest instead of relying on her imaginary god to cause our screens to go blank to prevent the spread of sane reasoning. Is your god reading this Laura? My monitor and computer is still functioning and will only die when the laws of physics intervene, not when your imaginary shit god leaves your dead brain.
I don’t believe it was just posting a page based on a man who espoused basic fundamental principles, who was also later found guilty by the Turkey government.
I believe Turkey finds Dawkins whole website offensive. So they banned it. In certain aspects of Islam it is allowed to have freedom of religion or expression (godlessness) but not the freedom to promote beliefs in public which are contrary towards the government or the prevailing religion of Islam. For example, our troops or contractors are not allowed to carry Bibles to Iraq or other middle east countries with them especially for the purpose of handing them out for free. This goes for atheist material too.
Heh heh. This reminds me of “Banned Book Week.” Once a year my local libraries participate in “Banned Book Week” by promoting books that have been banned at one point in time. My local library distributes fliers that read “YOU KNOW IT’S GOOD IF SOMEBODY BANNED IT.”
I guess the same can be applied to blogs now. If anything, this may attract *more* readers to Dawkin’s blog just to see what all the hub-bub is about.
Doesn’t the Turkish army have an outstanding promise to keep Turkey’s government secular at gunpoint if need be?
Quiet D. – Pleeeze don’t tell another naughty joke!! One of my best Asses has her little hoofies worn to the nubbins from all the tilting at windmills your last one caused.
For goodness sake not that nasty Scooter either! My eyes are still burning from that image of him and McShame in a toilet stall. UGGGGGHH!
Desecrate some Turkish Delight. ;)
Maybe Post A Pic Of Mohammed. Or Burn One.
Or…Nevermind That’s Too Crass, Even For Me.
Turkey is a secular country. Even in practice, as opposed to its constitution, it’s much more secular than, say, Iraq, let alone Saudi Arabia.
How predictable that it’s the creationist who doesn’t know enough about what he’s talking about.
Indeed. As soon as the AKP was voted into power, the military promised to putsch if the government got too religious. They’ve done this kind of thing twice before.
Despite this
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/world/europe/07turkey.html?ref=europe
a post about the Armenian Genocide should get you banned. (Though hopefully not my mere mention of it in this comment; if so, please delete it – people in Turkey shouldn’t be deprived of Pharyngula.)
I’m pretty sure if you brought up the Armenian massacre that will get you banned asap
Wow, this is incredible. I just have to say that I’m glad I live in Canada where I’m free to view whatever I like online. I sure hope this post, in linking to Dawkins’ site, doesn’t get you banned as well PZ. That would be another unfortunate loss for the people of Turkey.
Turkey has received billions in foreign-aid from the U.S.
What do I have to do to get equal ire?
Take a page out of the Koran and jam a nai….
ummmm
never mind, great party last night and my brain is still somewhat spittle-flecked.
PZ, I have to say it – you’re the bee’s knees, the Grand Wazoo, the greatest science blogger on the planet yadda yadda, but I’m afraid even you simply can’t compete with the awesome Dawk. Like Duke Nukem he’s three levels up and taking on the End of Game bad guy with every weapon available in cheat mode – and to cap it all off he’s got one qualification that will forever be denied to you.
He’s BRITISH!
They just now got around to banning dawkins.net for a post dated May?
Censors ain’t what they useta be.
(p.s. – only kidding. Both of you are teh awesome!)
Patricia @ 22, and LisaJ @ 27
Left a comment for you at the “Molly” Post, # 167.
Scooter: your brain is spittle-flecked?
That must have been some party.
Laura
Hope your next PZ. You are an arrogant, fundamentalist athiest
It’s not a Poe, note the use of your
WTF is a fundamentalist athiest anyway? Somebody who quotes chapter and verse, by purely improvising from their own imagination?
hmmmmm
sounds pretty cool. I want to be a fundamentalist Atheist when I grow up
@Lisa #27
You’d be surprised how many countries censor the internet in some way.
Pharyngulistic wit requested
I’m still screwing around with the tacky http://hockeymompitbull.net web page. I photoshopped Jesus crucified on an oil derrick being struck by lightning.
It is near the bottom of the page on the right hand side. I am experiencing caption block on this one, I’m thinking biblical scripture with drilling pun, but am drawing a blank.
If yall can think of anything, much appreciated, you can reach me direct at hockeymompitbull@yahoo.com or post here, PZ seems to be pretty liberal on letting me plageurize and exploit Pharyngula for material
What’s fucked up is that the US beat Turkey in the acceptance of evolution. Yeah, hooray America! We were 33 out of 34. If I start hearing this “America #1” shit again I think I am going to start punching people.
We do not see creationists going to jail for being creationists (frauds, sure, like Kent Hovind), but it is odd to see a Turkish guy going to jail for this. So really, I think this sort of makes up for the Turkish beating us in the acceptance of evolution. They actually lock up their nutjobs.
I am getting the impression that some posters here and in the RD.net threads believe that Islamic Fundamentalism on their part was the motivation for the government to censor an atheist website.
Wrong. Turkey is officially a secular government.
This occured because Harun Yahya has once again made a personal insult allegation to the Turkish court about a website carrying material critical of themselves. That’s all it takes, apparently.
This is rather similar to the way the Scientology cultists get sites like YouTube to take down material that shines too much light on their activities.
Holbach,
I found your comment particularly inconsiderate of Turkish atheists !
That scuppers Turkey’s application to join the EU; they just violated the right to free speech.
—
Laura, your what is no better…?
I am a Turkish person who has lived in the US since I was 6 months old (the 19th will be my 20th year of residence here). Web sites are never banned for religion. While they disagree with a lot of things said, the only thing that will get the people of Turkey riled up is insulting its history.
Sadly, the majority of the Turkish population agrees with bannings like this. It is more rude to speak against Turkish history in a conversation than it is to curse at a person. The level of jingoism there is absurd and is perpetuated in schools, and those who disagree with that often silence themselves to avoid social stigma.
They are right in supporting Ataturk as the founder of modern Turkey, they are wrong in being so backwards about it.
About the evolution thing. It’s bad enough they don’t believe in it. The worst part about it is that they’re more informed about the origins of life and its evolution than the children of most other countries. Whereas in debates here I have to teach people about it and give examples of modern, documented evolution; that step is completely unnecessary with Turkish students. They know it all and they still reject it for Islam.
don’t feel bad, pz–you’re banned in my heart, forever!
Hooray America. We’re number 33.
That really is disgraceful. The most powerful nation in the world has one of the most stupid uneducated populations in the world.
That really bugs me. Every single cent I have paid in federal taxes has gone to some dirt-bag country that censors websites.
negentropyeater @ 40
I had the Turkish atheists well in mind when I made that statement, but used a blanket statement to cover the majority. I am well aware that there are a lot of atheists in Turkey and have read reports to this fact. My commenmt is directed at the majority of islamists who are religion afflicted and this is also a known fact.
If the fishing lure is anything to go by, maybe the HY books should be more widely read for comedic value.
On US aid to turkey, I don’t think it went on education of healthcare: More likely the missile defence system.
negentropyeater @ 40
Why this insincere concern for Turkish atheists? You are not even an atheist, so I find your comment to be disingenuously phony.
Posted by: scooter | September 7, 2008 8:04 PM
sounds pretty cool. I want to be a fundamentalist Atheist when I grow up
I have been calling myself a fire and brimstone, backwoods atheist for a couple of decades now. I am making a huge assumption that most people are intelligent enough to know I am kidding. Except for the atheist part.
Give me that old time atheism
Give me that old time atheism
It was good enough for Emma Goldman
It’s good enough for me
Johnnie at #39
This is rather similar to the way the Scientology cultists get sites like YouTube to take down material that shines too much light on their activities.
$cientology vs the Internet goes back to the day when Al Gore first created the information superhighway, even before the web. The net was still a collection of Newsgroup/FTP protocols, with basic search engines.
The $cientology bastards even managed to take down the original free anonymizer Anon.Pent.fi in Finland for Dog Sakes, raided by INTERPOL!!!!.
However, their efforts finally went FAIL this year when they could not prevent the pirated internal Tom Cruise video from recurring after the mainstream media had a field day with it, and certainly the ass whooping from South Park was instrumental in curbing their dogs. Trey,Parker, et.al vetted every line with a team of lawyers before releasing it.
The last nail in their cracker was Jason Beghe, highest profile $cientologist defector using the net to blow their cover, it’s a startling revelation of their mind control techniques, even I was a little shocked, and I’ve been gas lighting $cientology for 15 years.
I’ve had a four part Scientology bashing vid on Youtube since the spring, and it’s not even flagged. I only got one very timid reply from a Hubbard Head. It is apparent that the Scientology vs the Internet war is finally over.
The Internet won.
If you’ve never seen Craig Ferguson’s parody of the Cruise recruiting vid, it’s hysterical.
The Jason Beghe interview is back on You Tube: it is a must see for geeky $cientology watchers, such as yours truly.
Sorry for going off topic, don’t get me started on $cientology, they have stolen many of their ideas from my Church not unlike those goddam Flying Spaghetti Monster heretics, with their midgets and pirates, who would believe in that nonsense ??!!!
Praise BoB
Holbach, I saw that. Thank you kindly :)
MH @ #36. That really is disturbing. But not really surprising for some of the countries listed. Thanks for the link.
Johnnie at #39
This is rather similar to the way the Scientology cultists get sites like YouTube to take down material that shines too much light on their activities.
$cientology vs the Internet goes back to the day when Al Gore first created the information superhighway, even before the web. The net was still a collection of Newsgroup/FTP protocols, with basic search engines.
The $cientology bastards even managed to take down the original free anonymizer Anon.Pent.fi in Finland for Dog Sakes, raided by INTERPOL!!!!.
However, their efforts finally went FAIL this year when they could not prevent the pirated internal Tom Cruise video from recurring after the mainstream media had a field day with it, and certainly the ass whooping from South Park was instrumental in curbing their dogs. Trey,Parker, et.al vetted every line with a team of lawyers before releasing it.
The last nail in their cracker was Jason Beghe, highest profile $cientologist defector using the net to blow their cover, it’s a startling revelation of their mind control techniques, even I was a little shocked, and I’ve been gas lighting $cientology for 15 years.
I’ve had a four part Scientology bashing vid on Youtube since the spring, and it’s not even flagged. I only got one very timid reply from a Hubbard Head. It is apparent that the Scientology vs the Internet war is finally over.
The Internet won.
Scientology Post Continued
If you’ve never seen Craig Ferguson’s parody of the Cruise recruiting vid, it’s hysterical.
The Jason Beghe interview is back on You Tube: it is a must see for geeky $cientology watchers, such as yours truly.
Sorry for going off topic, don’t get me started on $cientology, they have stolen many of their ideas from my Church not unlike those goddam Flying Spaghetti Monster heretics, with their midgets and pirates, who would believe in that nonsense ??!!!
Praise BoB
PZ, ask and you will receive
This should get Pharyngula banned in Turkey. It’s not That hard.
The Armenian Genocide (Armenian: Հայոց Ցեղասպանութիւն, Turkish: Ermeni Soykırımı), also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, the Great Calamity (Մեծ Եղեռն)–refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction (genocide) of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterised by the use of massacres, and the use of deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of Armenian deaths generally held to have been between one and one-and-a-half million. Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Empire during this period, including Assyrians and Greeks, and some scholars consider the events to be part of the same policy of extermination.[1]
It is widely acknowledged to have been one of the first modern, systematic genocides,[2][3] as many Western sources point to the sheer scale of the death toll as evidence for a systematic, organized plan to eliminate the Armenians.[4]
The date of the onset of the genocide is conventionally held to be April 24, 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities arrested some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. Thereafter, the Ottoman military uprooted Armenians from their homes and forced them to march for hundreds of miles, depriving them of food and water, to the desert of what is now Syria. Massacres were indiscriminate of age or gender, with rape and other sexual abuse commonplace. The Armenian Genocide is the second most-studied case of genocide.[5]
The Republic of Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, does not accept the word genocide as an accurate description of the events.[6] In recent years, it has faced repeated calls to accept the events as genocide. To date, twenty-one countries have officially recognized the events of the period as genocide, and most scholars[7] and historians[8] accept this view.[9][10] The majority of Armenian diaspora communities were founded as a result of the Armenian genocide.
Holbach,
I don’t need to be an atheist (I’m an agnostic) to also be anti-religion and a fan of Dawkins and PZ, and understand that there might also be some of them in Turkey.
Or are you going now to defend the typical American religiot point of view that there can’t possibly be non religious rational thinkers in predominantely muslim copuntries ?
Forget Turkey! Just take a look at Tennessee.
1 – My long dead grandfather purposely left me interesting information on Masonry with the hope I’d pursue it one day. I can find out what/who he was because I’m an atheist, which means I have no morals, which means I can’t keep their “secrets”.
2- My doctor, who I have to see every other month for an ongoing condition first told me to “pray” (along with giving me medication) as part of his medical advice.
3- My boyfriend drove past some nearby caverns one day (when we first moved here) and decided to take the tour. Unfortunately he was caught far underground and unable to get out while they proceeded with their “Jesus light show” and prayer “finale”. There was no outward indication that this would happen (signs, brochure, etc) .. but he should have checked their website first. The ritual was noted there.
Sorry. Just needed to rant.
This helps explain why I never heard back from the Turkish literary agency seeking a copy of The Carbon Age for the Turkish rights.
Holbach,
and please continue to write that we shouldn’t give a crap about this to a Turkish commenter such as mulder, muhtesen insan, secularist or even f451 over at RD.net who writes :
negentrophyeater @ 53 and 56
I live in the United States and my first concern is for the atheists and non-religious who live here and have to endure daily examples of religious discrimination and ugly harrassment such as the reports posted on this web site. Of course I feel concern for atheists in other countries and hope they somehow overcome their insurmountable religious bigotry, but I cannot make their concern mine and neither can you though you sometime seem overzealous to worry about the downtroden of other countries even when it is difficult to do so on a truly helpful basis. We have poverty in my country, and not just in isolated sections; people are losing their homes daily, are victims of widespread crime, are losing their jobs and depleting their savings just to care for themselves and their fasmilies. I am concerned about people elsewhere but not able to intercede in an appropriate manner, so all I can offer is a benign indifference and show that concern to people in my own country. I believe you live in France if remembering your mentioning it in one of your post. Will you go to Turkey and somehow intercede to improve the plight of Turkish atheists? I’ll leave it here.
Damn. And they do such nice things with eggplant. If I say “Hunkar bagendi tastes like angel spoo” do you think they’ll ban me?
(If someone doesn’t make a Vietnamese sandwich pun before 10PM PDT tonight I’m going to be disappointed.)
Please do.
Holbach,
my main objective is to try to speed up the decline of religiosity in the world. Taht means principally in the countriies that are far too religious such as the USA, but also Turkey.
I believe one of the great things of Pharyngula and RD.net is that they can help in doing this because they are the most international blogs in that respect.
One doesn’t need to be physically visiting a country in order to try to influence the thinking of its people. One can also exchange ideas through the blogs.
That’s why I’m concerned if Turkey starts censoring blogs such as RD.net or Pharyngula. Turkey is one of the few large predominantely muslim countries with a significant minority of well educated secularists who can help to reduce the influence of Islamic fundamentalism and this can have a positive impact on the whole region. So it’s critically important that this process accelerates.
And I think you should also care far more than this, because the hyper-religiosity of Chrstian Americans is partly encouraged by the hyper-religiosity of Muslim countries. Let’s say they encourage each other with their fundie stupidity.
Steve Ulven #38:
Right you are! I’m glad you pointed that bit of embarrassment out.
What’s doubly irritating is that they managed to beat the US in that much-vaunted respect with a lot less money and effort spent.
They beat us in a cakewalk.
What’s the big problem with America? Can’t we get anything right?? Why can’t we be best in everything???
…oh.
The absurdities are delicious.
Holbach @ 57
I guess it’s time for my monthly fuck-off HoleBucket post, I’ll keep it short
Fuck your country, they are so fucking stoopid they can’t even facilitate their own greed without shooting themselves in the foot, and greed trumps God in this backwater TV soaked brainwashed trailer park 24/7, don’t believe the hype. Nationalism is stoopider than religion, I’ll hang out with a Maryknoll Catholic like Roy Bourgeois anyday before guzzling beer with armchair atheist orgs, who tend to be about as effective as liberals
And you’re from Brooklyn, which is a total shithole of reeking smog breathing worker ants with speech impediments. Please send us more bad comedians with airline jokes.
Fuck you, you could stop typing for a few days and simply take the subway over to Wall Street and throw your ass on the gears. Stop preaching, what are you, twelve?
You sound like a pissed off Jr Hi outcast, get laid or something.
Thank Dog, if you typed anymore furiously, I’d have to turn off teh Internets to protect my children from your mutant Xman laser eye beam radiation spell checker.
scooter,
Thank you for the links. The Beghe interview is fascinating. Some of the techniques he’s describing sound like they’re right out of Cults-R-Us Brainwashing 101.
If it’s any consolation to Richard, I know Turkey also banned the Reverend Paul T Hipple. Although they are missing an absolute gold mine of humour. Try Googling his name for the protoplasm.wordpress.com page and the response section:
GOD Says:
You, my sad little talking ape, are fucking insane.
Hipple, Rev. Paul T Says:
I know you are not God. I prayed to God and asked Him if He said these things to me on my interweb. You are using God’s name in vain, and must cease and desist.
He did mention that YOU, and your hateful and sinful attitude are causing tears to fall down the cheeks of the loving Baby Jesus His Son Christ.
Simple: re-post. Echo the article. With diagrams. And a few swear words.
Steve Ulven: If I start hearing this “America #1” shit again I think I am going to start punching people.
Well, hell, OK! :-)
USA! USA! USA! We’re number 1!!!
(QD watches Steve with alert interest)
This has nothing to do with perceived offense to Islam, as many of the other commenters pointed out, Turkey is secular to the point of intolerance.
It’s just that Turkey has some wacky speech laws that make it easy to ban anything on the internet that someone thinks is defaming them. It’s that simple.
BobC: “Turkey is almost as backward as America.”
Close but not quite.
If anyone wants to know more about the Armenian genocide, I strongly recommend Taner Akcam’s book “A Shameful Act – The Armenian Genocide and the question of Turkish responsibility”, which I read earlier this year. He provides mountains of evidence that it was a deliberate act. The references section alone is longer than some books. But it’s not a bash-the-Turks book, and he takes a critical look at every party involved in that period of Turkish history, including the Armenians themselves.
This link shows a facsimile of a letter from the U.S. ambassador to Turkey in 1915, stating that the Turkish government is conducting a campaign of extermination under the guise of putting down rebellion.
And at the same time they’re trying to improve in order to meet the requirements of EU membership. Jolly good luck with that…
I hope the ban gets lifted before my next holiday there. Wandering from the pool bar into the internet room for a half-hour shot of Pharyngula and RD.net every couple of days was bliss.
@Holbach: “Benign indifference” would involve ignoring threads about people you don’t care about.
“why the hell should we give a crap if even moderate islamic countries ban him.” is not benign indifference. Neither are the similar “fuck the god-soaked bastards” comments you made about Brazilians on a previous thread.
We should, IMHO, give a crap because it is good if people everywhere are closer to free. Wanting to take care of the people near you first is one thing but taking the time to tell internet that you don’t care about free speech writes of people in other cultures is quite another
The attitudes you express have the worst elements of conservativism: strong “in-group/out-group” differentiation and (seemingly) a kind of essentialism that says “Those people just can change, let them rot”. I think you need to remember that it’s only a few decades since southern Europeans were held to be priest-ridden and incapable of liberal democracy. Then you should look at how Spain (especially) matches up to the US in terms of progressive social attitudes.
The original article is from Reuters.
Has Reuters been banned too?
The best way to get banned in Turkey is to use the banned Kurd letters and names (yes, that’s right, banned letters of the alphabet) of Q, W and X.
So a long list of profane Kurdish names in huge caps would probably do the trick for you PZ.
Turkish here.
These bannings have been rampant in this country for the past 1.5-2 years. Don’t let the comments as to the cause of these censors confuse you. There is one and only one reason behind these bannings; Adnan Oktar.
He is the creationist scumbag that leeches off of Islamic beliefs like all the other false extremists around the world do. He does nothing and makes a shitload of money from it, how sweet right?
Censorship started back when Turkey’s government lost its secular edge and was commandeered by the religious freak show. Not that the secularists are some kind of angels, they are as much lying and scheming politician as the next guy, but everyone reading this comment would agree with me when I say it is easier to live with a secular nutjob than a religious one.
I digress. When the religious nutjobs took power, Adnan Oktar rushed back into the country. I actually saw the scumbag in one of the most crowded malls of Turkey, last month. He wouldn’t even dare step foot into this country before, now he roams freely, making public appearances.
So again, I repeat, Turkish government doesn’t give a rat’s ass about who says what on the net. Hell, they probably are not aware of even half of the sites that have been banned. They are evil, granted, but they have bigger issues to tackle. Adnan Oktar on the other hand, has nothing to do. He brainwashes people into joining his cult (he has a small replica of the scientology church) and makes them work to make him money. Oh, and he sleeps with the girls he recruits into his cult. That is the primary reason he fled the country all those years ago. Back then, you could fill several cities with the number of people who had the guts to kill him, now they are afraid of the religious extremists who support Oktar.
This country is sandwiched in between. I, for one, don’t see any way out.
Cheers,
Norm
Well, good for Turkey!
Now lets see, if a US court can get the Discovery Institute closed and those behind it in jail like the turkish court did in this case…..
Now, which of the two is the more developed country???
Turkey’s secular constitution is in trouble at the moment. The courts are committed to defending secularism but the government is a nasty islamist group of some kind.
EVERYTHING is banned in turkey. Even my server which hosts a stupid Megaman video game comic.
Seriously, they just ban everything so richard isn’t special.
Wow! I get the same “access denied” message when I try to access Dawkin’s site from TEXAS!
(Kidding.) (For now…)
Posted by: Nino | September 8, 2008 8:08 AM
Well, good for Turkey!
Now lets see, if a US court can get the Discovery Institute closed and those behind it in jail like the turkish court did in this case…..
Now, which of the two is the more developed country???
This is the wrong way to go about the problem of DI. Shutting down the site through the use of governmental power does nothing to show how their ideas are wrong. Ideally, the site goes away through lack of interest because people and properly educated, intellectually honest and can leave behind flawed ideas. That is the sign of truly being more developed.
We’re talking about a country that has a whole article in the Turkish Penal Code about “insulting Turkishness” (people may be imprisoned for that).
I always knew Harun Yahya was a whacko, but I wasn’t aware of the additional non-creationist deeds he was accused of. Good for him!
I wasn’t able to get whether he is still in prison or not (I thought I read somewhere that he was sentenced for 3 years).
Hello,
It is sad to see some people are trying to get Pharyngula banned in Turkey. It is an important source of information for us Turkish atheists, and will you be just happy when Pharyngula is banned and atheist community in Turkey thus oppressed more? I’d expect more considerate and intelligent behaviour from this bunch of people.
And believe me, that Harun Yahya will get Scienceblogs banned in Turkey, sooner or later. You can be sure they are watching all of this, and waiting for their next move.
As for the kurds, speaking or publishing in Kurdish is legal in Turkey. Get your facts right before speaking.
Best wishes from Istanbul, Levent