Richard Dawkins Banned in Turkey: Turkey Bans Website of Prominent Biologist Writer
UPDATE: While I was writing this post, the site suddenly became available again. Several commentators on the Dawkins site noted that the official banning notice that appeared on the site earlier was missing legal information (court decision number and location, etc.), making us wonder who actually banned the site. The reason most commentators believe it was banned is that the Dawkins site posted (mildly) negative statements about Adnan Oktay (aka Harun Yahya), a creationist cult leader in Turkey who counters all such comments with libel suits. However, such a suit would still have needed an official court order to close down the site. So whose hand was on the silence button?
For the rest of the controversy, read below:
The website of the prominent biologist and atheist writer, Richard Dawkins, has apparently been banned in Turkey. Here’s the link. I can think of none of the usual reasons, like insults to Ataturk, Turkishness, or to the army, for banning access to this site. However, his book The God Delusion was taken to court in Turkey for inciting religious hatred. Is the website ban a spillover from the case against the book?
Dawkins has written widely about evolution and against creationism and intelligent design, and he has written about atheism, most recently in a best-selling book The God Delusion, which was an international best seller and sold 6000 copies in Turkish translation. Last year, on the basis of one person who objected to some passages in the book, a Turkish prosecutor launched an investigation into whether or not Dawkins’ book “incited religious hatred”. (click here) This news was received with incredulity by people on both sides of the issue.
From an article in Turkish Daily News (December 3, 2007): It is… quite unnecessary to emphasize that if this nonsensical official probe into the book results in a trial – that might end up with one-year sentence – the publisher would without any doubt seek (and find) justice before the Strasbourg court. And personally, I don’t believe any prosecutor in a democratic country like Turkey could go “so far” as to start the prosecution on suggested grounds – independently on whether he believes there is God or agrees with professor Dawkins.
For the reaction of Mustafa Akyol, himself pious and a supporter of intelligent design, click here: A faith’s strength comes from not its fervor to silence critics, but its ability to refute them. If Muslim believers in Turkey are annoyed by Dawkins’ book, then they should bring counter-arguments to his theses, instead of asking for censorship by prosecutors.
The court dismissed the charges against the publisher in April 2008. (click here for article in Turkish.) So why is the Turkish court legislating on science and religion on the web now? I found nothing further in the recent news about a case against Dawkins (and I can’t read his explanation on his website, since I can’t access it.) It’s impossible to know the origin of the website ban, since the banning notice on the site says only that it is banned by court order, but doesn’t give the usual additional information — date, name of the court, and court decision number (all of which are provided, for instance, on the banned YouTube site, click here)
Is this ban legitimate? What is richarddawkins.net, the website of one of the world’s leading scientists, being banned for? And what does this say about Turkey’s attitude toward science and education, not to mention freedom of speech???
I’ll let Atatürk have the last word: Science is the most reliable guide for civilization, for life, for success in the world. –Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Addendum: A reader’s comment alerted me to a Turkish blog that believes (but has no evidence) that the Dawkins site ban is due to accusations of libel against Dawkins for publishing negative statements about the Turkish creationist cult leader Adnan Oktar (aka Harun Yahya). The Turkish site gives the following link to an article on Dawkins’ site which, for some reason, I am able to read here in Turkey. Check out comment #15 on that link (to the Dawkins article on Oktar), from a Turkish scientist. it gives the background on Oktar. (I’ve interviewed Oktar myself and find this comment pretty comprehensive.)
Folks at ek$isozluk think that Adnan Oktar may have secured an injunction because of what people say about him there.
I don’t know if Oktar is behind this one but I don’t understand why people act surprised at individual cases like this. There is no suprise here, the law allows this and any site with a forum, blogs and such can get shut down by powerful people this way. This is not solely due to the new internet law, the libel/defemation/insult laws use the same censorhip infrastructure.
Many people pass themselves off as ‘liberal intellectuals’ here but I have not seen any discussion of the stifling effect of such laws in their coulumns. This kind of thing happens to the regular press too if they are not powerful enough to resist. I gave an example here.
If a website directly attacks on moral values with insults, swears and hatred; that it should be banned is a quite very pleasing news.
Darwinism is the root of all disasters that was brought upon humanity. It built societies made of people considering themselves equal to the apes. Believing that their origins lie in the world of animals, they find it natural to act like one. They kill without hesitating when anything contradicts their benefits, racism arouse as a part of the “survival of the fittest” notion. And the results become obvious with the 1st and the 2nd World Wars. Millions died just because of a single unscientific theory.
Banning the website is not just a favor to the internet users, but to the whole world.
I have read his book and found many insults and attacks on religion.
In his latest eddition, he has a special chapter for the atheists who do not believe but who do respect religion. He attacks on those type of atheists and says clearly that the fact they respect is not acceptable.
I cannot imagine what other disrespectfullness he performs in his website.
So good to hear that such sites are being banned.I visited that site one and it was enough for me to decide not to visit it anymore.Dawkins thinks that lwe are coming from apes!Com’onnn, who would believe this?I visited Harun Yahya’s wab site as well (www.harunyahya.org).Yahya is giving very clear evidences that life can not accur by chance and man can not come from apes! Dawkins keep talking but no scientific evidence!!Why can’t he show bilions of transitional form fossiles if an evolution did have place?Forget it..why can’t he show one single of them?
So as I said, I am glad such a stupid site is banned.
If there is no freedom of religion in Turkey, how can there be freedom of science?
Adnan reminds me of those evangelistical zealots in the USA.
There is something as conscience science pretty well described by Rudolph Steiner.
Religion means freedom, not submission!
Hmm. Using the oft-prasied notion of democracy as pushed by much of our press, and going by how many seem to wish it, I think it is safe to say that an outright ban of the site would be called for. Can’t go against the headcount — that’d make one a privileged secularist up-to-no-good elite.
Dawkins, his science or sicentist identity aside, is a good guy. And The God Delusion is a good read, too.
Oh you had three adman in a row there. I guess someone sent your blog post to their “Adnan is under attack emergency mailing list”..
Fortunately they’re not that smart. Otherwise -with these organizational skills- they would’ve ruled the world by now.
I am from Turkey, and a PhD student in the USA. I am also a volunteer of an organization called Evrim Çal??kanlar? (Hardworkers for Evolution) which recently translated and published a website teaching evolutionary theory in Turkish. For me as a scientist, “nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”. However, I think Richard Dawkins is more harmful for defending evolutionary theory than beneficial. A year ago, I listened to a New Scientist podcast where they interviewed him, and he gave one of his “hatred” speeches. The guy was so filled with hatred, I was bewildered. At that moment I could tell, he was creating “two sides”. He is making religious people irritated. He draws a boundary and says “if you are religious, you cannot accept evolution”. That is why I do not like Richard Dawkins anymore, who was once my favorite science writer as a teenager. Richard Dawkins for me, is no different than an extremely religious person who pushes people to become religious. I think religion can be in peace with science if people wanted to, but that is a long story now.
As for site banns in Turkey. I do think Mr. Oktar has a crew which is well organized and which is trying to “clean up” the Internet from anything bad written about him. And of course, lots of people do not have good things to say about him. But he does not want the Turkish youth to see the truth, so that he can continue what he has been doing (I am not gonna name it, so that your blog stays unbanned :).
Duygu, consider this… Dawkins probably has had it when you still have a whole career ahead of you. Best of success in your endeavours.
P.S. Why don’t give the link to your website ‘Evrim Caliskanlari’?
Duygu, Allah razi olsun! (God bless you!) Best of luck.
Nihat, website is www.evrimianlamak.org
Thank you for asking, don’t know how I could forget giving the address
Bulent, thank you too… We are still working on the website, and there is looots and loots more pages to be added.
Jenny, I guess I tried posting the previous comment several times because I thought it was not being posted. I hope I did not cause too much trouble :/
Türkiye oxforda kendini kapatt?!
I’ve looked into this some more. Some people seem to think that it is this posting that’s deemed offensive. I also recomemmend this hilarity linked from there. Despite my giggling, the joke’s on us, of course. I’ve seen them spreading their, um, valuable knowledge in an exhibition at Taksim Metro station on gov’t (municipal) property last bayram.
Anyway, for one account of what might happen to those who attempt to take them on here, see this. All this works as expected, so now even cartoons based on anything to do with evolution cannot be published in certain papers: see this for an example.
Oktar also seems to want some money according to this:
http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/459522.asp
(It isn’t clear whether he’s suing for libel or perceived insults or both.)