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Amazon.co.uk13 March 2008
Turkey blocks YouTube - again
It seems that Turkey doesn’t quite grasp the concept of free speech. It has again blocked access to YouTube for content it deems insulting to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the country’s founder.
According to a CNN report, there was no news about how long the ban would last. When a similar ban was imposed, almost exactly a year ago, the ban stayed in place until YouTube removed the offending video.
In Turkey, it is illegal to insult Ataturk. The man himself is rarely offended these days - he’s been dead for seventy years or so. But there are some things the Turkish Government just won’t allow you to say. Dissing Ataturk is one. Discussing Turkey’s genocide of Armenians is another.
Turkey is attempting to join the EU. It is in many ways a forward-looking, vibrant country. Its staunch defence of secularism in government and society is hugely admirable (even if under attack from within and showing signs of being eroded). But its complete sense of humour failure over things like YouTube videos suggests that it still hasn’t quite got a grip on what it means to be a modern society.
Free speech, in its truest form, means the freedom to offend. All societies actually place limits on this. In the UK, for example, publishing something that incites people to religious hatred is illegal. But mocking an old, dead guy, or even having the temerity to call an historical event what you truly believe it to have been (eg, genocide) do not fit into this extreme category.
While Turkey continues to employ the censorship methods more commonly associated with despotism, it should not be surprised if it is mocked and insulted. Hearing people say things you don’t like is part of a free society. Instead of imposing internet bans, Turkey should abolish its archaic laws that stifle free speech.
(1) 23 March 2008 at 9:25 pm
The Watcher
Turkey DOES favor secularism, strongly. But I don’t know if that’s an admirable quality; it seems contrary to the free speech that you and I both agree would be helpful for them to progress into the 21st century.
(2) 25 March 2008 at 6:15 pm
Artanis Deviir
Isn’t it illegal to question the Holocaust in Austria, and to question the Armenian Genocide in France?
(3) 17 May 2008 at 6:54 pm
Carole Calisgil
I live in Turkey and although I’m disappointed that YouTube has been blocked, I can understand why this has been ordered. There isn’t enough censorship on the Net and when people start abusing the freedom they have by showing real ignorance and hatred towards others, then I think there should be controls to call a halt to what they’re doing. If those administering the site in question don’t take action, then who will?
(4) 18 May 2008 at 9:08 am
Steve
> There isn’t enough censorship on the Net
I hope that was a joke. You accuse people of ‘abusing’ their freedoms, but how do you justify calling this abuse? Just because someone has a different opinion to yours doesn’t make them wrong and is certainly no justification for censorship. And who is to do the censoring? You? Wanting someone to censor opinions that you don’t like is simultaneously feeble and arrogant. What the Turkish government did was to declare that certain opinions were simply not allowed. That’s fascist behaviour. And I know there are weak people who like the apparent protection of such regimes, but they generally change their minds when they find some cherished opinion of their own being suddenly outlawed.
You will find plenty of opinions on the Net that don’t agree with yours. That’s the nature of freedom. And it’s a freedom to be protected, not given away by feeble people who can’t abide others thinking differently.
It’s worth pointing out that some censorship does occur. There are laws preventing hate speech - material likely to cause people to commit hate crimes (predominantly, violent crimes). There are legal tests and parameters to define these. ISPs and web hosts will take down sites where the content can be shown to be unlawful or libellous. So there are controls. The fact that Youtube did not remove the ‘offensive’ material is an indication that it did not fall into these categories. You might not like it, but so what? The Internet is not run for your personal benefit.