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Turkey bans biologist Richard Dawkins' website
Sep 17, 2008, 13:34 GMT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
A lie is a lie even if everyone believes it. The truth is the truth even if nobody believes it.
But in Turkey, you get lynched if you point out religion as a lie, and they misinform you about the truths or try to prevent you from accessing the truths altogether.
Wow, I am quite impressed to say the least. Very well written and to the point. Good job.
Jiff
www.anonymize.us.tc
Islam has nothing to do with Turkey's problems. Nope. Nothing at all.
Was a false statement made about Oktar's book? Has the court made a determination that the book is not inane?
Well, Turkey is not alone. It's also not possible to access from China blogs using Wordpress.com (at least not from Beijing at the current time).
Dawkins should contest this decision, saying that the court should go through the defaming comments one by one. If a comment is found to be unfair then it will be withdrawn, and if it is found to be fair it shall remain. A British court has actually allowed someone to be referred to as a 'snivelling little shit' (or words to that effect) as being fair comment before, so it'd be interesting to see what the Turkish courts would allow.
Besides, don't the Turkish courts have to adhere to laws allowing freedom of speech? I know that they're mostly Islamic, but they've done a lot to try to become part of the EU, so chances are that they do have some laws that protect fair comment.
I cannot see why, if the excellent book the god delusion was allowed, why the website isn't?
Religious censorship that reminds me of the middle ages!!
Forget European Union, let's clean out islam out of Turkey, let's bring Ataturk Kemalism back in the country, let's demolish islam, Turkey is secular and will stay secular or WAR!!!!!!!!!! No islamic fascism in Turkey will be allowed
It is true that it is islam. Islam never tolerate any different view.
agni
agnisetu.blogspot.com
Muslim youths are angry, frustrated and extremist because they have been mis-educated and de-educated by the British schooling. Muslim children are confused because they are being educated in a wrong place at a wrong time in state schools with non-Muslim monolingual teachers. They face lots of problems of growing up in two distinctive cultural traditions and value systems, which may come into conflict over issues such as the role of women in the society, and adherence to religious and cultural traditions. The conflicting demands made by home and schools on behaviour, loyalties and obligations can be a source of psychological conflict and tension in Muslim youngsters. There are also the issues of racial prejudice and discrimination to deal with, in education and employment. They have been victim of racism and bullying in all walks of life. According to DCSF, 56% of Pakistanis and 54% of Bangladeshi children has been victims of bullies. The first wave of Muslim migrants were happy to send their children to state schools, thinking their children would get a much better education. Than little by little, the overt and covert discrimination in the system turned them off. There are fifteen areas where Muslim parents find themselves offended by state schools.
The right to education in one’s own comfort zone is a fundamental and inalienable human right that should be available to all people irrespective of their ethnicity or religious background. Schools do not belong to state, they belong to parents. It is the parents’ choice to have faith schools for their children. Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. There is no place for a non-Muslim teacher or a child in a Muslim school. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim children are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools. An ICM Poll of British Muslims showed that nearly half wanted their children to attend Muslim schools. There are only 143 Muslim schools. A state funded Muslim school in Birmingham has 220 pupils and more than 1000 applicants chasing just 60.
Majority of anti-Muslim stories are not about terrorism but about Muslim
culture--the hijab, Muslim schools, family life and religiosity. Muslims in the west ought to be recognised as a western community, not as an alien culture.
Iftikhar Ahmad
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
This should show people just how compatible are Turkey and European Union.
There is no relationship between the problems of turkey and islam. The problem is AKP! Turkey have been through a bad administration for 4 years. But Turkish people will overcome this problem as well soon.
Atatürk doesn't roll in his grave because he's dead, but at least now I understand the fervor of Turkish secularist a little better. Good job Turks, keep on going like this and the doors of EU (should) stay forever shut. Which is sad.
I don't know what this is about but I am from TUrkey and I can log onto the website just fine. I think adnan oktar and his people made this up to gain publicity or something.
This is not true. I can't believe even the Guardian ran a story on this without checking the facts first.
Proves to me that they must think he is telling the truth, otherwise why bother banning it? Keep up the good work. The truth is there for those who deserve to know it...Personally I'm making the most of this lifetime as no-one knows what happens afterwards - enjoy the ride while you can.
Iftikhar Ahmad,
Are you really advocating the position that, muslim children should only be taught things that fit in with the world view of their parents and which will not cause them discomfort, or heavens forbid, prompt them to think for themselves. Plus it also seems that you want muslim children taught in the language of their parents at the expense of the state. Do you advocate this for every non english speaking child in the UK?
er you guys.
His website doesnt appear to be blocked
has it been overturned? im in turkey as we speak and not having any trouble accessing his site.
pretty much the only sites blocked here on a permanent basis is Youtube and porn (boo) but its not hard to get around the censors and most Turks i've met seem to know how to access blocked sites. its more a statement by the courts than anything else. annoying and inconvenient at times, but at the end of the day its hardly book burning...
Turkey should NOT be allowed to adhere to European Union!!! It's a trojan horse, and the banning of Dawkins' site proves it...
Islamic creationism? That goes beyond the usual delusion, that's stupidity squared!
I shall be pointing this out to our MEP and request that the EC bear this in mind when they next reconsider Turkey's accession to the EU.
Iftikhar AhmadSep 19th, 2008 - 04:56:44
I wouldn't call it mis-education nor de-education. The fact is that muslim youths are being let down by an antiquated religion that calls for the subjugation of women, the stoning of non muslim faiths and athiests, and the silencing of anything that muslims decree offensive. Plenty of muslim fundamentalists seem to think in the 21st century that this is quite alright.
In this country we have what is called a democracy where free speech is a right. This is unfortunately where it lets us down by allowing terrorists to spout their filth in the name of Islam.
Hey if you don't like our education system then fund your own muslim school instead of sending the money back to Pakistan to buy plane tickets to get more of you living over here. And don't forget to cancel the sham marriages to get Pakistanis British citizenship.
Churches in this country fund their own private schools, so why should muslim schools get any extra privelige? or is that being racist?
One of my best friends is a Pakistani man and fortunately he's an athiest too, but you know if he were to admit such a thing to his family and friends he'd be an outcast in his society. That is so wrong. No wonder there is racism from both sides. I feel sorry for any child being brought up in any religion but especially Islam.
moomoo
What is equally unfortunate as banning of Dawkins website by Turkis courts is that some of the adamant readers of Mr Dawkins are so ignorantly hateful and remorseful against Turks that, some wrong legal action taken against this website causes uproar and hateful remarks against a country that has one of the most legitimate and staunch secular systems in human history.
Frankly, I am ashamed for some of the racist commentators posting here anti-Turkish sentiments.
Atheism does not mean hating of others. Some long time readers are so hateful that I think they are pretending to be atheists not because they do not believe in god but they look for a reason to hate.
What happened in Turkey is not a political decision but someone taking advantage of a legal loop hole against this website for personnel gain. There is a legal system that is ever changing in Turkey and this decision will be dismissed by higher courts of appeals.
So, STOP HATING Turkey and its people and look at it from analytical point of view.
Comments like those posted by user named 'MrPickwick' reminds me of American-neoCon-Christian-fundamentalist-Islam-haters' (ANCFIH) comments appearing in christian Fundamentalist media.
Analyze the situation, do not take advantage of it and use to to pour out you hate.
Stop anti-Turkish sentiments, stop hate, stop now!. Atheism does not mean hating.
Besides Adnan Oktar is a freak, he is not Muslim or anything else.
British artist faces Turkish jail over collage
British artist Michael Dickinson faces up to two years jail in Turkey if he is convicted of 'insulting the Prime Minister because of his duty' in a court case to be heard on 25 September in Istanbul.
Dickinson, resident in Turkey, is a collage artist and made a picture Good Boy, showing the Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdoğan, as a dog with a stars and stripe leash and a nuclear missile for a tail.
The case, which was twice adjourned since October 2007, has attracted international media coverage, and threatens to have repercussions for Turkey's European Union membership application.
Dickinson is a member of the Stuckists art group, whose co-founder, Charles Thomson, wrote to Gordon Brown about the case. He received a reply from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office saying 'we are unable to interfere in the judicial process of other countries.' Thomson said, 'This is a pathetic response. The government should make it clear to Turkey that as long as they repress freedom of speech, they have no place in the European Union.'
Dickinson's younger brother, John, is the father of 13-year-old Caroline Dickinson, who was murdered in 1996 while on a school trip to France.
An online protest petition has over 500 signatures: mungbeing
Statement by Michael Dickinson
In 2005 there was a story in the news in Istanbul about the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan suing some Turkish cartoonists for 'insult' by depicting him in animal form. In support of the artists' freedom of expression, I made a collage image called Best in Show, depicting the PM as the winner of a dog show, having a stars and stripes medal tied to his collar by George W Bush. I wrote an article about the case:
In 2006 the picture was displayed along with other anti war collages of mine at a Peace Tent organized by the Turkish Peace and Justice Movement (BAK) in protest against the war in Iraq. Turkish police arrested one of the organizers of the event, Erkan Kaya, and charged him with 'insulting the dignity of the Prime Minister in his duty' for displaying my picture. A guilty penalty can result in two years prison.
A letter which I wrote to the court claiming full responsibility for displaying the picture was rejected, and the charge of insult against Erkan Kaya continued. On the day of his trial I went to the court house to offer my services as a defence witness, but the trial was deferred until a later date because Kaya didn't turn up. Coming out of the court house I was arrested for unfolding and displaying a new poster-size collage to waiting journalists and cameramen. It depicted Tayyip Erdoğan with a dog's body and a nuclear missile for a tail. Held on a leash made from the American flag, he is eating a stack of American dollars. The picture was entitled Good Boy.
Thereafter I was held in custody for ten days – 2 days in Umraniye Prison, then moved overnight, during which I made a desperate escape attempt and was shot at -
I spent a further seven days in the Detention Center for Foreigners where I witnessed sickening racist cruelty by the guards in charge -
After two visits from British Consulate staff, I was released and told to leave the country. I did, but returned, and have since been living in Turkey on tourist visas, renewable only by leaving the country and returning every three months.
Although I have lived and worked well as an English teacher in Turkey for 22 years, many schools and universities have put my name on a 'not to employ' list. To save myself from total destitution I am now just managing to pay the rent by telling fortunes with rune-stones in the streets of Istanbul.
Media Info:
More information on Michael Dickinson: wikipedia
Michael Dickinson
Home: Istanbul 0216 418 2376
Mobile: 0535 647 8040
Email: michaelyabanji@gmail.com
Contact if Michael Dickinson is detained after the hearing:
Sanar (pronounced Shanar) Yurdatapan, spokesperson for Freedom of Expression. He speaks excellent English and can be contacted at 90 216 532 7545. Email antenna@superonline.com
File no/Court: 2006/958 Kadıköy 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance
Plaintiff: kh
Accused: Michael Dickinson
Law/Article: TCK 125/3 Insulting the prime minister because of his duty
Date of hearing : September , 25 2008 Time : 09:30
On conviction the penalty can be up to 2 years in prison.
selfish gene is the main book in one of my lesson..İ couldn't believe when i first read about the banning...what a pity for us..
some of the books of Harun Yahya is free, i don't know how many people read them but i am sure somebody reads..once i tried to read but i could't, it was waste of time for me..
when the EU is concerned..i want to be part of EU only for to be able to visit countries without permission,other things..?..
Turkiye get water,workforce,agriculture,energy sources,..we don't need EU..please do not forget not all people in Turkiye wants to be part of EU..
I don't care if Turkey joins the EU, as long as we in the UK are out of it when it does.
There is nothing better than Islam for turning the mind to insanity.
it's very unlucky situation.i'm blaming turkish government and adnan oktar as a turkish citizen.
As a turk, atheist and anti-authoritarian, I spoke few bookstore owners around istanbul, this ban made richard dawkins even more popular.
colored
judging turkey by its current rulers wouldn't be any different than judging U.S. by Bush or judging France by Sarkozy. This decision do not represent the whole country. There are creationist everywhere and the most powerful country in the world has 'in god we trust' written on their money... so get of our Turkish backs and take a look at your 'enlightened western' ignorance and creationism first.
This is all happening with respect to a law that has been legislated by the ruling party AKP.. That is how much freedom AKP is going to bring to Turkey. Maybe this might finally wake some West(ern)ers up and they might finally see that there is no such thing as a mildly religious country. There is sharia and then there is (and once in Turkey, was) Democracy..
I can't say I think much of Dawkin's work, but blocking his website is hardly going to solve anything.
Turkey bans professor Richard Dawkin's website. I am not suprised.
The Kurdish atheist website, diwaroj dot com, has been unfairly blocked by the goverment before. Maybe the only reason they blocked diwaroj was becouse of articles about (The God Delusion), but who knows...
And now they bans professor Richard Dawkin's website.
When I was in Turkey a month ago, the only way to access the website was using a proxy.
I recommend all atheists to do the same, free web based proxy to bypass.
Go to google.com and type free web based proxy, finde web based proxies to bypass.
Dont worry they can't block all the websites.
Stupid islamic turkey will never stopp users viewing Dawkins website.....
It makes Dawkins even more popular....
I love you... United we are stronger and united we will defeat the enemey of the truth.........
----- ((((*A*))))----- (*_*)-------
I am from Turkey, Richard Dawkins official web site is not banned here even i find it pretty ridiculous that there is a banner on the top of the opening page of web site which claims 'banned in Turkey' right next to our national flag.
What a shame millions of people are deceived by this false news
Hello folk!
Yes, that is Islam. What did you expect folk?
Maybe you did expect muslims sending you flowers.
Turkey's regime does not want Richard. The regime need a Mullah more than scientist. A mullah can send a lot people to die in the name of Allah. A scientist...No, No place for you......
Our creepy stupid government, The White Party made that.
Because they're just bigotries.
Well it doesn't matter. I am in Istanbul,Turkey and still able to access his website using anonymizer websites.
In Turkey these stick-in-the-mud people sometimes create troubles like this. Believe me, they are outnumbered; some of them are still in important positions but they are outnumbered. In near future, I hope these obscurant views will be completely wiped out from Turkish democracy.
Actually we must look this event from marxist angle. Turkey is a capitalist but not a emperialist country.. And it's my country. Our country is used by USA and EU for their emperialist benefits. From the begining this country tried to join other capitalist countries (from 1923). But main capitalist countries has not accepted this. As a result our capitalist govern's always used our country to enter the 'big arena'. We have nearly no syndical rights, We have no democracy, but it will not come with EU or USA. Because they always want to use us. We have nearly no right some military bases. USA army use our bases for war with iran, russia, ıraq and many more.. And we have no right to say 'hey, don't shout ezan, I'm an atheist and I'm annoyed'. And to control our people capitalist govern's use militarism and religion.. we have tarikats, we have people like adnan oktar, we have racist millions... In univesity lots of people think there is a creator of universe because our education system work for capitalist system..
Take this picture big, and the ban is the one part of it.
Anyone can buy Richard Dawkins books in Turkey but the site is banned. What a stupid contradictory. Besides Adnan Oktar the man who banned the site is a self-interested person. Give him the money he does everything for you. At the past he was sentenced because of swindling.
English (Yusuf Ali): (Recite)
2:120 Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion. Say: 'The Guidance of Allah,-that is the (only) Guidance.' Wert thou to follow their desires after the knowledge which hath reached thee, then wouldst thou find neither Protector nor helper against Allah.
Turkish:
2:120 Sen onlarin dinlerine uymadikça, yahudi ve hristiyanlar senden kesinlikle hosnut olacak degillerdir. De ki: 'Süphesiz dogru yol, Allah'in (gösterdigi) yoludur.' Eger sana gelen bunca ilimden sonra onlarin heva (arzu ve tutku)larina uyacak olursan, senin için Allah'tan ne bir dost vardir, ne de bir yardimci.
French:
2:120 Ni les Juifs, ni les Chrétiens ne seront jamais satisfaits de toi, jusqu'à ce que tu suives leur religion. - Dis: 'Certes, c'est la direction d'Allah qui est la vraie direction'. Mais si tu suis leurs passions après ce que tu as reçu de science, tu n'auras contre Allah ni protecteur ni secoureur.
German:
2:120 Und weder die Juden werden mit dir zufrieden sein noch die Christen, es sei denn, du folgst ihrem Glauben. Sprich: 'Allahs Führung allein ist die Führung.' Und wenn du nach der Kenntnis, die dir zuteil geworden, ihren bösen Gelüsten folgst, so wirst du bei Allah weder Freund noch Helfer finden.
Spanish:
2:120 Ni los judíos ni los cristianos estarán satisfechos de ti mientras no sigas su religión. Di: 'La dirección de Alá es la Dirección'. Ciertamente, si sigues sus pasiones después e haber sabido tú lo que has sabido. no tendrás amigo ni auxiliar frente a Alá.
It is so typical of the AKP (governing islamist party in Turkey) to support their corrupt lowlife henchmen. What can you expect from the government of a PM who has the intelect of a primate? The EU should wake up and realise the true intensions of the AKP, which is to destroy Atatürk's secular republic and re-instate the califate, then move on to spread islam to Europe. What europeans also mistakenly assume that christianity is any better than islam; don't be mistaken, any religion allowed power under the guise of freedom of religion will bring the world back to the dark ages.
hi all guys I am from Turkey and I read the god delusion by Dawkins.. He isn't wrong completely.. He didn't erase not only ıslam's contradictions but also other religions'. I am so disappointed because of my country's attidute toward new ideas and different voices from all over the world.. we should listen and see different voices, views. In a matter like this one should act according to the dictates of one´s feelings, not one´s reason... ıf whole thinks through the same way it means no one will express difference...
If you have read any of Dawkins books you will realize his arguments are false , miss leading and full of contradictions. Evolution is not a theory but a hypothesis. There is little or no evidence to support it. Many have made false claims in the name of science, eg birds have evolved from dinosaurs when know from fossils that they existed at the same time.Any one who thinks life happened through pure chance is a fool.Evolution is bad science at best and Dawkins is an idiot who does more harm than good with his false claims and rhetoric.
As a Turkish citizen and a biology student in Turkey, I can tell you that it's not a surprising thing. In fact, even if there are some biology proffessors who think the evolution is a lie in a country, you can't expect ordinary people to thınk about evolution.
The statistical data tell us that Turkish people has the second highest rate of creationists throughout all over the world. That's even higher than Saudi Arabia or Iran. And that's the reason of only works of a man called Adnan Oktar. But is there anybody familiar with this name? Who is he?
Adnan Oktar is a mysterious person. Noone knows nothing about his life before he is so popular. The only known truths are he left the Psychology Department of Istanbul University as a 2nd class undergraduate student and he hadn't joined the army because he had the report shows he has schizophreniac paranoia. Turkey's first met him was in late 90's when the case of a religious cult. I can not recall the result of the case, but before that Turkish society had little opinion about evolution.
After that case, he started writing on evolution and creationism with the pen-name 'Harun Yahya'. At first, the books were for free and given out especially to the students and the society who comes from the church. The motto of all of the books were ' Evolution is a satanic cult and ideology that brings only disasters'. And people believed his words because theres noone telling the truth. So, the creationism spred out in this way.
Actually if you look in an objective way, you can find lots of dilemmas in these books, even if you don't know anythıng about evolution. For example in a paragraph it tells us Darwin was a racist philosopher while just after that it tells us he was a communist. But people were so illiterate that they believed them. Also the governments, especially the fundamentalist ones were with him. He usually misjudges the reality, bends the meanings, throws some words out from a sentence and makes books with these sentences.
And the most interesting act of him was sending his 'Atlas of Creation' to all European Schools and scientists with no charge. The book has lots of mistakes, almost every page of it. But it's still believed that the content is true.
Today, Turkish Government is the most fundamentalist government troughout the history of Turkish Republic, and they have full belief on Adnan Oktar. And Turkey is just democratic state of law in the constitutional law books, but it is just a fundamentalist Islamic regime in reality. So it is so normal to be banned an atheist biologist's homepage in a country like this
, like richarddawkins.net.
dont worry.. i m not that block detainment , we are accustomed bloks like this.this is not first block for us (youtube , bloqspot etc... )
i hate adnan oktar and our reactionary government.. i like richard dawkins ideas , books and i like different dns servers , free proxys and ktunnel.com
respect
I am from turkey, I can access the page but it is a little tricky you know.Not easy for many.
the problem with turkey is,; here, democracy is not established well.according to the official statistics about 99 percent of the population is islam, 1 percent should be the other religions I suppose.And we don't have any non-theists in here?!
there is a section of religion on id cards here and it is submitted by your parents to the officer whether you are a muslim, christian etc. when you are born.
turkey is a strange country, if you ask them, most people will tell you that he is a muslim but you can be sure that he doesn't obey the 'strict' rules of islamic god 'allah'.
you can't find almost anyone who knows evoulution theory and is older than 30.biology teachers are exception of course, but only 10 percent of them - optimistically !!
you can't imagine how difficult it can be if you live in turkey with all these pious maniacs.arabic countries are even worse.it can sometimes be really unbearable to live with people who even don't know what you are talking about.if you are a philosophy undergrad especially.
unfortunately we, atheists, free-thinkers are very weak in turkey right now.but I know that truth will be unveiled someday.It doesn't matter wherever it will be.
best wishes for all 'defenders of reason' from all around the world.science keeps us together, like brothers and sisters.
What can one say about Turkey and Islam in general. One must remember that we are dealing with primitive people who had an uneducated filth as their leader.
I am a Turkish citizen living abroad for my studies, but all my family is actually living in Turkey.
I want to point out something really important about this issue, the fact that Mr.Dawkins' site is banned in Turkey (this is something that I would like to criticize about this web-site):
The reason why Mr.Dawkins' site is banned in Turkey must not be misunderstood, Turkey is not an Islamic state governed by religion (although some people in our government would probably like that to happen). Not at all. The real problem is just that the Republic of Turkey's laws regarding internet is not developed enough to the modern situation! That's all!
So actually in Turkey you can, for pretty much anything, shut down a web site or prevent the entire country to have access to this site.
Another example would be some entire blogging networks that have been banned in Turkey because there were actually some blogs giving Turkish Premier League goals and highlights away freely and that it was against the rights of Lig Tv, the broadcaster for football games in Turkey.
So pretty much anyone can do the same thing for reasons like this in Turkey and I agree that this is a problem, but not the problem some people might think of.
Let's say it's some kind of breach, or weak point, in the law system in Turkey.
This is why I would also kindly ask the webmaster of this website to be a little clearer about the ''Banned in Turkey'' banner on the home page, because it is giving a wrong image about our ''beautiful but lonely country''.
Actually there are possibilities that the laws are reviewed accordingly because of many critics in the media and some student riots for internet freedom. Recently even our prime minister said that he was actually accessing banned sites like Youtube through proxy programs like ninjacloak, so this shows that we can hope that things change soon in Turkey.
I can easily access this website... no ban even for kids here. And i never respect YOUR Richard Dawkins some english talk like they are %100 sure of everything they talk about and they are the ones who are on the right way in the universe. It's something ironic. You just make me smile here. I take YOUR Richard Dawkins as charlatan as Atheists think the same about Harun Yahya. Hello ?? hello ?? there is a centre of the world ? or we are wrong? ... I don't care about U.K. neither EU like many ppl do in Turkey. We are neither Eastern nor Western. We are the grandchildren of Ottoman with a new modern face. We don't any Union except for probable Turkish Union in the future.
Born and raised as a muslim. I cannot tell that I am an atheist now, because I believe this term includes activism . But I can tell that I don't believe in God. I try to read and discuss as much as I can. Banning the site in Turkey will just make people more and more curious . Noone takes this guy seriously in Turkey , He was just famous to 'convince' rich people's sons with hot girls he also 'convinced' and he was gaining power and money day by day . He was arrested then . After that he raised back from his ashes , unfortunately .
He could ban this site so easyly because according to new law , local court could do this.But don't worry. Due to long youtube banning stories , almost everyone here knows how to reach banned web sites.
I am most ashamed that that kind of a person could do this . But I am just curious , if atheists of west world can attack their own 'creationists' ( as far as I know , there are these kind of people also in the western community. For example Mormons, scientologists ) with same attidute and sarcasm ? They should ...
First of all, all internet users in Turkey are able to visit your site since even YouTube is banned in Turkey, and now everyone knows how to use a proxy - fascism CAN be educative, wow!
I would like to clear up some misinformation about Turkey. The majority in Turkey, which is less educated than the rest, are moved by religious motives instead of scientific ones, as is the case in every single country on earth which is not rich enough to provide the best of education to the poor. But these decisions and fundamentally irrational decisions take place in Turkey because of the current 'lukewarm Islamist' party called AKP is in control of the parliament with a majority. Under the guise of 'democracy', which is more like 'mob rule', they are undermining the already damaged pillar of secularism and pursuit of science with the support of the Western countries.
Oh, what's that supposed to be? Western support for an Islamist party? How can that happen, you probably ask yourselves. Well, wake up. The prosperity of the West is mostly caused by its controlled exploitation of the third world countries. And these people, whoever they might be, have backed AKP to come into the power. When AKP's antisecular moves had carried the party to the constitutional court, all the western newspapers were crying out 'the grandest project of the west is about to fail!'. Now the West got what it wanted - a fundamentalist proto-fascist country right in the Middle East, instead of the old secular Turkey. But the West, or at least Germany and other European countries with sizable Turkish immigrants will regret their decision, since the immigrants there are even more fundamentalist religious zealots, and they are now posing a serious problem in the countries they live. Rejoice, good and developed people of the West, because your governments' actions are what caused this absurdity to happen.
That said, Turkey was never a shit-hole originally; it was made into one. Congratulations.
Hi guys, he is another pathetic action by Turkish government:
Science and Technology (S&T) is a monthly magazine published by Turkish Science Institute (TUBITAK). The S&T decided to dedicate its cover page to the 200th Anniversary of Darwin's Birth in March, 2009. While in press, the directorate of the magazine, who had been appointed by the Turkish Islamic government (the party in power is AKP), reacted this and changed the cover page to 'Global Warming', while firing the lady in charge of the publishing of the magazine.
S&T and TUBITAK used to be the stronghold of the left behind science in Turkey, and now totally in the hands of radical Islam.
I am really desperate as a person believing in Science, pure science. HELP US!
Hi from beautiful Anatolia,
Our land will be free. Idiotic and unscientific thoughts and beliefs won’t last. The worst thing in our country is to leave the secular educational system. Every unpleasant event is based on religious and unscientific educational system.
Youtube is also banned due to videos against religion. Although they say the censor is due to videos against Ataturk, everybody knows that the real reason is videos against some religious groups and videos.
Social evolution will lead a society with religionfree and scientific commonsense.
The only thing I have is hope for now. A campaign should be started all over the world against censorship.
Best regards.
I am a doctorate student and a scientist in a Turkish university and my department is biology. While i was studying, our teachers taught us about Darwin's teory and evolution. So we are enlightened about this issue. But there are many people who are ignorant like the president of Türkiye now. I am blaming to the government for banning website. But i know that is a temporary duration. Darwin has been blamed for his thoughts as Kepler and Galileo so that their ideas were against Catholic Church on time. Science and religion must be seperated from eachother. But as a turkish scientist,i and many people know that cause of political reasons in Turkiye,that all is happened. This is not only a case is happened here. Nowadays, a magazine broadcasted by TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Turkish council of Turkey) was changed the heading of the last volume. It is related with Darwin and 200. anniversary of him. Until now, any volumes of the magazine hasnt been cencored. This means primitivity of minds. As i am believing evolution with scientific clues, sometimes i am in a doubt whether this type of people, who are self seeking and religious fundamentalist, evolve or not.
I think, this is not related with EU or politics. There can be many people like that in every country. But science have existed before religions, and it will endure forever.
So if you support us in this issue instead of slander, we are really glad.
richarddawkins dot net is not banned anymore in Turkey.
i am feeling so good.
Dawkins is pursuing a career as a writer, and has merely identified a big opportunity to preach to a big group of already converted believers; believers in the non-existence of something that cannot be proved to exist/not-exist. What a brilliant idea! he must be laughing all the way to the bank.
I think he probably knows he's full of shit, but likes the money and ego stroking of his success in his chosen career, so makes like a believer himself, purely for the purpose of self-promotion.
It wouldn't surprise me if that once his current audience have had enough of his circular logic, that he then uses it to counter his own argument for the other half of the eager to spend believers.
I assume that Iftikhar Ahmad would also like to see the same religious freedoms granted in Turkey to the Alevis, Orthodox Christians, and Armenians.
Seems to me that Iftikhar Ahmad has described very accurately an alien culture living within another one with no intentions of any attempt at integration, rather isolation and ghetto-isation.
I felt shame for the band. But i must correct that. The ban practically doesn't work.
I am sure any turkish citizen could get into the sites. Even the president Erdoğan confess that he could reach Youtube.com. Ironic.
Turkiye doesn't need to enter the European Union. Because EU. is one of the religious sect. If Turkiye get rid of AKP then we will find ourselfs. Atatürk said that we should focus on science and not bother ourselfs about religion bullshit as I think we need to follow this path than Turkey will be more independent and enlightened than all the countries in the World and it is not too far for us.
Adnan Oktar is 'so called' a cult leader in Turkey and had been kept legcuffed in mental institution for 10 months in 1989 with a diagnosis of paranoid schizoid.This guy involved in many illegal events and probably will be in jail with his servants for 3 years after the court confirmed his punishment.
Richard Dawkins site has been banned in Turkey as well as Youtube and many others.Also Adnan Oktar is prohibited in Turkey by court not to leave Turkey borders.
So don't take him serious.
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