OUR TURN : TURKEY HITS FREE SPEECH (AGAIN)

San Antonio Express-News
STATE&METRO Edition
March 10, 2007 Saturday

Continuing a troubling tradition of censorship, a Turkish court this
week banned access to YouTube because the Web site had a video clip
deemed insulting to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish
Republic.

Ataturk, who died in 1938, is highly revered in Turkey, where he
helped birth economic, political and social reform.

The clip allegedly portrays Ataturk and other Turks as gay. The
charge falls squarely under Article 301 of the Turkish Constitution,
which makes it illegal to criticize "Turkishness."

Turk Telekom, the country’s primary provider of telecommunications
services, agreed to the court’s blockage.

Article 301 has been used to charge novelists and journalists in
court. One outspoken newspaper editor, Hrant Dink, was fatally
shot outside his office in January. Many connect the murder to his
characterization of the 1915 mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman
forces as "genocide."

At a time when Turkey hopes to gain entry into the European Union,
its record on freedom of expression is becoming increasingly dismal.

An editorial in Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper Friday stated it well:
"Our societal inclination towards getting angry fast makes us forget
this important truth: Sometimes, ignoring something can be the best
punishment possible!"

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress