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Turkey: Proposal may ban some Turkish Web
sites
6.4.2007 |
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April
6, 2007
ANKARA, Turkey - A parliamentary commission
approved a proposal Thursday allowing Turkey to
block Web sites that are deemed insulting to the
founder of modern Turkey, weeks after a Turkish
court temporarily barred access to YouTube.
Parliament plans to vote on the proposal, though a
date was not announced. The proposal indicates the
discomfort that many Turks feel about Western-style
freedom of expression, even though Turkey has been
implementing widespread reforms in its bid to join
the European Union.
On Thursday, lawmakers in the commission also
debated whether the proposal should be widened to
allow the Turkish Telecommunications Board to block
access to any sites that question the principles of
the Turkish secular system or the unity of the
Turkish state — a reference to Web sites with
information on Kurdish rebels in Turkey.
It is illegal in Turkey to talk of breaking up the
state or to insult Ataturk, the revered founder of
modern Turkey whose image graces every denomination
of currency and whose portrait hangs in nearly all
government offices.
Ataturk is held to be responsible for creating a
secular republic from the crumbling, Islamic Ottoman
Empire.
Several prominent Turkish journalists and writers,
including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, have been
tried for allegedly insulting Ataturk or for the
crime of insulting "Turkishness."
European calls for free speech have angered some
nationalist Turks, who view the recommendations as
interference in their internal affairs.
Last month,
Turkey blocked access to the popular
video-sharing site YouTube after a complaint that
some videos insulted Ataturk. The ban was lifted two
days later.
Turkey, which hopes to join the European Union, has
been roundly condemned for not doing enough to curb
extreme nationalist sentiments and to protect
freedom of expression.
Kurdistan
related websites blocked in Turkey in January
2007
A black humorist named his business the Virus
Internet Café. It is located down a side street in
Doğubayazıt, and is heated by a woodstove; still,
everybody keeps his winter jacket on. Trying to log
onto Kurdish Web sites such as kurdmedia.com,
interkurd.com and more other Kurdish websites or
undertaking a Wikipedia search for “Kurdistan” all
generate the following message: “Bu Sayfa Yasak
Siteler Listesinde Kayıtlı ve Bloklandı.”
Translation: “This site is listed as forbidden and
has been blocked.”
AP | AFP
** The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to some 20 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan ( Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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