TURKISH NET CLOSURES SPARK DOUBT OVER FREEDOMS
Thomas Grove
Reuters
Globe and Mail
September 24, 2008 at 5:26 PM EDT
Canada
ISTANBUL — A Turkish court decision to ban the website of a renowned
British atheist academic has stirred fresh doubts about the European
Union candidate’s commitment to freedom of speech.
Approximately 850 Internet websites, including Youtube, have been
blocked this year in Turkey, the number swollen by recent laws making
it possible to block sites without a court order.
"When you look at Internet regulation Turkey looks to be in the same
league as Tunisia or North Korea, and that doesn’t bode well for EU
requirements," said Cengiz Aktar, professor at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir
University.
"The Internet is one of the most instrumental means of spreading
information, it is an unprecedented instrument, and forbidding the
internet is forbidding freedom of speech," he said.
The website of Oxford professor and evolutionist Richard Dawkins
was banned in Turkey earlier this month after the Muslim country’s
leading creationist advocate, Adnan Oktar, said he had found slanders
of himself there.
The website currently carries in its masthead a picture of the Turkish
flag and the heading "Banned in Turkey."
Turkey’s AK Party government, which has roots in political Islam but
also embraces centre-right and nationalist groupings, says it has
broadened the scope of public debate since taking power in 2002. But
curbs on websites and a dispute with the country’s leading publishing
group have raised concerns.
Turkey is hoping to start this year two new chapters of EU reform work,
which deal with media and society, and analysts say Europe will not
be pleased with Turkish Internet regulations.
The majority of sites in Turkey closed by court order are due to
allegations sites encourage suicide, contain libel, child pornography,
help users access drugs or promote prostitution.
But Internet websites, including Youtube, have also been closed
for insulting Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey,
or for touching on the concept of Turkishness, a sensitive issue in
the deeply nationalist-minded country.
Internet regulations have been tightened even further recently with
a law that was passed in May, giving permission to the country’s
Telecommunications Directorate to close down websites based on
complaints by individual users.
"All you have to do is give the name of the Internet site, give
some information about the Internet site about why you think the
site is illegal," said Ceren Unal, assistant professor of law at
Bilkent University.
"If they [Telecommunications Directorate] take your complaint into
consideration and they usually do, the site will be closed down."
The ease with which Internet sites have been closed has rattled free
speech advocates in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country but with
a secular constitution.
"It’s like finding two pages in a book illegal and reacting by closing
down the entire library," said Mustafa Akgul, an internet expert at
Bilkent University.
"It’s not only about becoming part of the European Union, about
becoming a democracy. It’s about joining the rest of the world."
The European Union has long criticized free-speech rights in Turkey
since the days of article 301, which punished writers for "insulting
Turkishness."
Under pressure from the EU, the article was changed replacing
"Turkishness" with "the Turkish nation." But critics say the vagueness
of the term can still lead to arbitrary prosecution.
The article was used to prosecute Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk
and Turkish ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was killed by
an ultranationalist.
In protest at the court banning internet websites, some 500 internet
sites closed themselves earlier this summer.
Across the page was written in bold red lettering: "Access to this
Internet site has been blocked on our own decision," mocking the
statement that comes up on Youtube in Turkey, "blocked by court
decision."
One of the largest on-line Turkish-English dictionaries Zargan
participated in the protest.
"I was personally very disturbed by the arbitrary decisions. especially
the fact that no explanation is given. Censorship must be clear and
should not be politically guided," said Orhan Bilgin, founding member
of Zargan.
Closing Internet sites has led to a proliferation of proxy websites
that contain the same content as a banned site, but on a different
web address.
Proxies for Youtube number in the dozens and similar proxies exist
for other banned websites.
"In the end this might be good for Turkey, we’re becoming incredible
savvy about getting around these bans," said Mr. Bilgin.