Turkish Nationalism..

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Of course this is no suprize but this article depicts the mentality of our beloved neighbors..

Bekir Coskun: The cry for blood



They had never been this excited by anything before. But they were thrilled to "be Ogun Samast." Thousands of them yelled "We are all Ogun Samast" at the match.

They never much cared for fighting for democracy.

They weren't ones to struggle against reactionaryism or backward thinking.

Working for a clean society was never their thing.

Nor was putting up a front against thieves and robbers.

Never, not even one day, did they ever shout out in anger about poverty, hunger, or the powerless in this country.

But what they all just loved doing was "being Ogun Samast."

Yes, they fill the weekend football stadium stands yelling "We are all Ogun Samast," over and over.

Ogun Samast, the murderer.

They say "We are all Ogun Samast."

And there are so many of them.

One, two, three, ten, one hundred thousand......

*

Meanwhile, here we are stupidly debating the deep state, who the real killer is, whether or not there is a secret organization at work, and who exactly might be behind this murder.

When all the time, the truth is being shouted in those football stadium stands: "We are all Ogun Samast."

Some are putting on replicas of that same white beret Samast wore when he committed the murder, the better to resemble him....

Just look around you. They're everywhere.

They're all yelling that they are each one "Ogun Samast."

A killer.

But when it comes to being equipped, cultured, knowledgeable, good citizens, people in whom their families can feel pride, well, there is no reaction from these same crowds.

They have never yelled with such ferocity when it comes to just growing up and becoming men. Nor when it comes to becoming human. What they want is to "be Ogun Samast." And so they yell in unison "We are all Ogun Samast."


Listen and listen well: this is the loud cry which yells out that peace and love can never come to this country. This is the cry of blood.

Hurriyet

[Tsontos]

for more background on this story:

BBC NEWS | Europe | Turkey's nationalist hotbed

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What better representation of Turkish nationalism than that depicted in the notorious "Article 301"

According to Amnesty International (EUR 44/035/2005) it states the following:

1. Public denigration of Turkishness, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and three years.
2. Public denigration of the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the judicial institutions of the State, the military or security structures shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and two years.
3. In cases where denigration of Turkishness is committed by a Turkish citizen in another country the punishment shall be increased by one third.
4. Expressions of thought intended to criticize shall not constitute a crime.

It continues by clarifying that:

The final qualification of the article in paragraph 4 suggests that expressions amounting to “criticism� rather than “public denigration� are not punishable. Amnesty International considers that the attempt to draw a distinction between criticism and denigration is highly problematic. The lack of legal certainty of the crime will lead to arbitrary interpretation by prosecutors and judges. Even the Turkish Minister of Justice himself, Cemil Cicek, has reportedly stated that “the whole issue comes down to how the laws are interpreted�.

Amnesty International believes that Article 301 poses a direct threat to freedom of expression, as enshrined in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and in Article 10 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR).

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Heres an interesting little story directly linked to "Article 301"

Kurdish political leader sentenced for saying ‘Mr.’ Ocalan

09.03.2007

Ahmet Turk, the leader of the pro-Kurdish Democ-ratic Society Party (DTP) in Turkey has been sentenced by a court in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir to six months in prison for referring to jailed Kurdish insurgent Abdullah Ocalan as "Sayin," which means as 'Mister' or 'Sir' in English, implying a respect and support for the leader of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).
Ocalan is serving a life sentence after being found guilty of treason for leading the Kurdish armed campaign in which more than 30,000 people died. It was the second conviction for the leader of the DTP in seven days. Last week Turk and a DTP deputy leader were sentenced to 18 months in prison for distributing party materials in the Kurdish language, Turkish law allows distribution of political materials only in the Turkish language. The DTP is viewed with suspicion by Turkish nationalists arguing it is closely tied to the Kurdish separatist cause.
Guilty for praising Ocalan
Turk was sentenced by the court on a charge of supporting a criminal in a speech he made in January 2006.

He said in his speech, "Meanwhile we are doing our utmost to silence the guns while the isolation of 'Sayin' Ocalan is deepening social concerns."


The court said that Turk was guilty of praising a criminal, noting that the punishment was given because the defendant repeated the same expression over and over again and because Turk is a leader of a political party and has influence in society. Turk is considering a legal appeal.

Kurdish group claim jailed leader being slowly poisoned

The Turkish government on Monday announced that it has dispatched expert doctors to the Imrali island prison where PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is serving his life sentence but dismissed accusations that he was being slowly poisoned. The government took the decision after Ocalan's lawyers alleged there was evidence that he was being poisoned at the prison.
Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, who also serves as the government spokesman, was quoted as saying that a group of doctors, including toxicology experts, travelled to the prison island near Istanbul on Monday "to verify the claims and to prevent the exploitation of such allegations," however, he added that the claims are pure lies.
Pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DTP) mayors from the southeast of the country are being investigated by the Prosecutor's Office of the Southeastern Diyarbakir province for calling on the Turkish government to send an independent team of doctors to conduct tests on Ocalan. According to media reports, 54 mayors from the DTP will be investigated for the statement that they released.
The results of Ocalan's health check had not been made public by the time the Cyprus Observer went to print.


Source:
observercyprus.com

[Tsontos]

Amazing, its seems Trapezounta has been turned into the centre of Turkish nationalism....

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Another fine article from the Cyprus Observer

Turkey, the 21st century’s Orwellian Oceania

26.01.2007

What has become obvious, once again after Hrant Dink’s murder, is that no one is really secure in Turkey who expresses an alternative to the mainstream ideas or to the policies that maintains the Turkish state’s status quo.

By Umut Uras

Armenian Turkish journalist Hrant Dink is dead; killed by a 17 year-old Turkish youth antagonised by the Turkish mass media that rallied against Dink, declaring him a ‘traitor’. Turkey lost a brain, a democracy activist, a citizen in love with his country and a courageous intellectual standing up for what he believed in.

What has become obvious, once again after this horrible murder, is that no one is really secure in Turkey if they express an alternative to the mainstream ideas in Turkey or to the policies that maintains the state’s status quo. Apart from the existence of a Turkish ‘deep state’ in various state institutions independent of the government’s will, the public opinion manipulated by the media and the state institutions are also threats for that ‘one’, who has a ‘negative’ say on the traditional autocratic mentality and ideas in the country.

Anyone but Turkey guilty
The cold heart of politics came to light again, as government officials, like the ruling Justice and Development Party deputy Saban Disli, started to talk about how this assassination is going to be used by European governments against Turkey.

Disli made his comments on Turkish television NTV a few hours after the assassination. Yes, it is really unfair that Turkey’s image is again made corrupt by this major murder in Turkey, committed by a young brainwashed Turkish citizen. It is unfair that the EU criticise the country for such a murder; they should just let it go (!).

In the same line, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Grand Unity Party, Muhsin Yazicioglu, was again creating very ‘original and intelligent’ conspiracy theories on the same day. He said that it was a move made in order to create a mess for Turkey as has been done in previous years on issues like Cyprus and the Kurdish. He said this killing would contribute to the adoption of bills on the Armenian issue awaiting foreign Parliaments, pointing to foreign forces behind the assassination. I guess this was a claim meaning that the Armenian Diaspora could be behind the assassination. Well, he was wrong.

Workers Party leader Dogu Perincek, claimed that the assassination was organised by the US and the EU, unsurprisingly to cause confusion in the country. The main opposition Republican Turkish Party leader Deniz Baykal also claimed that the assassination was organised by circles who wanted to dig under Turkey and put the country into a tough situation.

Hasan Celal Guzel, a conservative columnist and a former minister of Turkey, came up with the claim that Armenian and Kurdish circles are the primary suspects for this murder in his column in the Turkish Daily Radikal without advancing any concrete background for the claim. Nationalist newspaper Tercuman also claimed that the murderer was Armenian, again without actually indicating any proof for the claim.

An expression popular with Turkish officials was, ‘Whatever the reason is …’, to my understanding expressing that there could be valid reasons to hate this person because of his thoughts, but one did not have to kill him. In a statement the Speaker of the Parliament, Bulent Arinc, said: “Whatever the reason is, whatever purpose it carries, this is an attack against Turkey’s peace and unity as well as the nation’s domestic harmony.�

A one-sided blame game still continues with various circles’ making massive efforts to create more surreal scenarios to make citizens on the street believe the nation, the state and the country itself have no responsibility in this murder and nothing to be ashamed of. In fact they have.

Turkey vs. Turkey?
It has always been about provocations against Turkey. In all the above statements, these well known people of Turkey blame various domestic and foreign circles, anyone, and anything apart from blaming Turkey itself. They talked about provocations by these circles but not about Turkey’s crippled democracy, almost instinctual hostility against heterogeneity, and the public and state-based targeting of any dissimilar view to any traditional mainstream way of thinking in the country. They talked as if it was not the Turkish governments’ – ironically – Justice Minister who blamed an Armenian conference as being organised by traitors; as if Article 301 was not a part of Turkish penal code used by the Turkish judicial system to target intellectuals in the country; as if nationalism was not perpetually stimulated by the mass media, politicians and various NGOs, feeding the racism within Turkey and fomenting hostility against the West; and as if the democratisation of the country has not been constantly confronted with the effects of all of these.

No one admitted that this was a racist murder; Hrant Dink was killed because he was Armenian. And the environment for this murder was created by the factors mentioned above and more.

Not surprisingly, the youthful murderer does not seem like someone who has connections with ‘hostile foreign circles’, as he is an unemployed Turkish youth with only a High School education from a very conservative and nationalist region in the country, one who could be provoked by almost anything. This is a youth who was affected by one of the ‘very creative news pieces’ on the internet like those saying that Armenians would split his country, without mentioning that there are only 40-50 thousands Armenians living in Turkey, a country of 73 million.

A lover of Turkey charged with ‘insulting Turkishness’
Dink was charged with ‘insulting Turkishness’ according to the internationally infamous Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code that punishes people who publicly denigrate Turkishness, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the judicial institutions of the State, the military or security organizations. It also says, “Expressions of thought intended to criticise shall not constitute a crime,� but the meaning of ‘criticism’ is not defined.

I met Dink in Istanbul once at a conference on the minority issue and foundation properties in Turkey. He, again, broke down in tears when talking about the Armenians and the minority issue in Turkey in general. As far as I was told then, he had a tough past; born in Anatolia, brought up in orphanages, to come to where he was after going through many very hard times. Whenever he talked about issues that were sensitive to him in public, he would cry, as he did at that conference.

Dink knew that he had become a target with the opening of his case based on Article 301 for saying that he believed in the existence of the alleged Armenian genocide. Actually, in one of his last articles published in the Agos newspaper he said: “What did Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Gul say? What did Minister of Justice Cemil Cicek say? “The issue of Article 301 should not be exaggerated. Is there someone found guilty and sent to prison?� As if paying a price always means going to prison... Just see the price... This is the price... Ministers, do you know what the price is to imprison someone with the skittishness of a dove? Do you know it? Don’t you look at doves at all? There were times when I seriously thought about leaving the country. Especially at moments when the threats focused on the ones close to me...�

He did no harm to Turkey; all he did was utter his love for his country with every opportunity he had, and expressed thoughts different than what are generally believed, or expressed, in Turkey about the alleged Armenian genocide. What he asked for many times at different times was to discuss and to be challenged for his opinions, but not to be charged for them.

A bullet to Turkey or from Turkey?
Despite being a journalist whose area of focus is International Relations and Foreign Policy, I believe democratization is more important than national interest, a citizen is more important than the state, and EU membership is more important than anything else for Turkey if we do not want to sacrifice other Hrant Dinks. As Orhan Pamuk says, the defenders of 301 are guilty of this murder; politicians, the media and intellectuals – anyone that contributed in the creation of this environment.

We should make one question clear: Was this an attack against Hrant Dink as well as Turkey as was stated by various officials including the Prime Minister? Or was it an attack by Turkey against Hrant Dink on behalf of democracy and freedom of speech?

“We should judge the darkness that turns a baby into a murderer,� Rakel Dink

umut@observercyprus.com

[Euklid]

I can not help myself with this infamous Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which states the following:

* A person who publicly denigrates Turkishness, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and three years.
* A person who publicly denigrates the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the judicial institutions of the State, the military or security organizations shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and two years.
* In cases where denigration of Turkishness is committed by a Turkish citizen in another country the punishment shall be increased by one third.
* Expressions of thought intended to criticize shall not constitute a crime.

Thank God I am not a Turkish Citizen in England, so i can enjoy my desires and write freely about my concerns. The really funny part is that this Law was passed in 2005 in an effort to integrate with the EU, by passing more liberal laws that respect diversity, human rights and the rest well known Western "damnations". One can only imagine what kind of Law, this article replaced.

During the Past 2 years that this Article has taken effect, it is already proud to have ruled in almost 60 cases, with some of them quite high-profile and megaly controversial.

One of them is the Orhan Pamuk case, for stating, in an interview with a Swiss magazine, that "Thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it". Another high-profile case to result from this legislation involved the writer and journalist Perihan Magden, who was prosecuted for a December 2005 newspaper column in which she strongly defended the principle of conscientious objection and the refusal to perform military service. In response to this column, the Turkish military filed a complaint against her. And another In July 2006 the Istanbul public prosecutor's office prepared an indictment alleging that the statements in the book Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman constituted a breach of the article. The publisher and editors of the Turkish translation, as well as the translator, were brought to trial accordingly, but acquitted in December 2006. And another...Publisher Ragıp Zarakolu is on trial under Article 301 as well as for “insulting the legacy of Atatürk” under Law 5816.

Last but not least, is, the well-known Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, peace be upon him, who was prosecuted under the Article 301 for insulting Turkishness, and received a six month suspended sentence. He was subsequently assassinated on January 19, 2007 in the Istanbul district of Şişli, in front of the offices of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos. He left behind a wife and three children. Orhan Pamuk declared, "In a sense, we are all responsible for his death. However, at the very forefront of this responsibility are those who still defend article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Those who campaigned against him, those who portrayed this sibling of ours as an enemy of Turkey, those who painted him as a target, they are the most responsible in this."

Finally, the Cherry came on Top with the ban of youtube access in the whole of Turkey, for hosting a video which showed that Turkey's founder Kemal Ataturk was a homosexual, and therefore youtube insulted Turkishness, censoring its services in a country of 70 million citizens that aspires for EU membership and has already been granted Candidate Status.

What, i am wondering while i am writing all these stuff, along with the ones i don't, like Armenian, Greek-Pontian, Assyrian and Kurdish mass massacres, genocides, -call it as you wish- as well as the Cyprus Issue and the Aegean Grey Zones is:

Is Turkey's Political Machine that STUPID, or is it occupied by Agents Provocateurs?
We spoke of Idealism in Real and Pragmatical terms, the other day, and i am really trying hard to find a reason at any level that could or would satisfy my hunger for identifying causality. Propably, i am the one who's stupid here.

I wrote this a few days ago for the blog, it doesn't say much more than already mentioned, i think it still is a contribution, though.

Link: Noemon: "The Deep State"/Article 301

[Tsontos]

Turkish Nationalism on the rise

Poll finds Turkish nationalism on the rise
Published: Tuesday, 13 March, 2007, 09:24 AM Doha Time

ANKARA: A majority of Turks believes nationalism is on the rise in Turkey and that the European Union’s treatment of their country is the main reason, according to a poll published in the Milliyet newspaper yesterday.
The poll, conducted last month by the A&G market research company, found just over 50% of those canvassed felt nationalism was rising against 30% who disagreed.
About one-fifth of those polled said they personally felt more nationalistic.
The survey coincides with soul-searching in Turkey over the recent murder of a prominent Turkish Armenian editor in Istanbul by an ultra-nationalist teenager. Turkey is also preparing for presidential and parliamentary elections.
One-third of the poll’s respondents blamed the increase in nationalism on the European Union, which Turkey hopes to join.
In December, Brussels froze entry talks with Turkey in eight of 35 policy areas because of Ankara’s refusal to open its ports to EU member state Cyprus. Ankara has no diplomatic ties with the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government.
Many Turks feel the EU puts unfair pressure on their country over a wide range of issues and that the wealthy bloc does not really want Turkey, a Muslim country, as a member.
The second reason given for the upsurge in Turkish nationalism was the “inadequacy of Turkish foreign policy” on issues such as Iraq and Cyprus.
Ankara is very worried about the possible disintegration of neighbouring Iraq and the emergence of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq which could fan separatism among the large Kurdish population of southeast Turkey.
Turkish politicians and army generals sometimes threaten to take military action against Turkish Kurdish rebels hiding in northern Iraq but have not followed up on these threats.
The A&G survey canvassed the views of 2,396 people across the country on February 17-18. – Reuters

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Turkish Daily

Is AKP the most nationalist party?
Tuesday, March 13, 2007


Apparently the most popular nationalism in Turkey is not ethnic or patriotic in nature. It is a nationalism with a high dose of religious sensitivity, i.e., Islamic nationalism

Cüneyt Ülsever Milliyet daily published a public opinion poll about �nationalism�. (March 12, 2007). Here are a few excerpts that I came up with:

�According a research conducted by A&G, 50.1 percent of the population thinks nationalism in Turkey is on the rise lately. The ratio of those who don't agree with that point of view is 30.4 percent… The ratio of those who believe that 'nationalism in on the rise' escalates as the age gets younger and education level goes up. The point reached in full membership talks with the European Union, developments in Northern Iraq and the social experiences after the Hrank Dink murder have all added to the nationalistic reflexes.�

Milliyet goes on to add:

�To the question, �Did your feelings for Turkish nationalism increase for some reason?' 21.2 percent of the participants answered, �Yes, my feeling got stronger lately,' 15.7 percent said, �It increases time to time,' 42.1 percent responded, �I don't feel any change.'

To the question, �Regardless of which party you voted for, which party and political leader, do you think, responded best to these new increasing nationalistic feelings?' the 21.6 percent answered as, 'AKP'. It was followed by a 17.3 percent for MHP, 7.6 percent for CHP and a 6 percent for the BBP.�

Nationalism redefined

This poll reveals two interesting findings relating to the concept of nationalism:

1) People think that the nationalistic feelings of others have risen more than their own. (Note that 21.2 percent believe their own nationalist feelings got stronger, while the ratio of who think that nationalism has risen in society is 50.1 percent.)

2) The party responding best to nationalist feelings is the AKP!

All right, what kind of nationalism are we speaking about here?

In April 2006, another public opinion poll by Tempo Magazine revealed that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) was seen as the 'most nationalist party.' On April 11, 2006, I penned down the following regarding to Tempo's poll:

A poll titled 'Nationalism Research' conducted by Bilgi University and Infakto Research Workshop for Tempo magazine points a finger to a crucial development, in my opinion.

I added:1) The conservative 'National View' that AKP has been inspired by gets more and more dominant in the definition of Turkish nationalism.

2) In other words, the conservative �National View's� contribution to the definition about who the Turks are and how they perceive the world increases.

3) The �National View� has accomplished to propose its understanding of Islamic communal identity to the national domain.


Islamic nationalism

When I reached this conclusion a year ago, I had referred to some findings of the poll:

�….After they acknowledge that a non-Muslim could be a Turk and even a non-Turkish speaking person could be a Turk, participants enumerate �being an atheist' at the top of the elements that �contradict with Turkishness.' They place �being a Jew or a Christian' to the second place!

To the question, 'To which elements a Turkish nationalist pay most attention?' the answer, 'Turkey's territorial integrity' sits at the top with 59.9 percent; however, to the same question, the answer, 'being Muslim' (13.6 percent) is voted way above the answer, such as 'Turkish language' (2 percent).�

And according to the data Infakto Research Workshop has collected, the politician who is regarded as the "most nationalist" is Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Recently, the opposition parties, primarily the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), are trying to strike at AKP with nationalist rhetoric. But apparently the popular nationalism is not ethnic or patriotic nationalism, but a one with a high dose of religious sensitivity, i.e., Islamic nationalism!

[Orphic_Hymn]

Cyprus Observer

Death, lies and videotape
16.03.2007

Yesim Erdem Holland / Istanbul
The internet again under scrutiny in Turkey following the gigantic video sharing website YouTube was banned because of a video insulting Ataturk

Everybody knows that the Internet is full of filth. It offers wonderful opportunities, and as often gives space to offensive or downright criminal ideas and visions. After the murder of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, provoked by an article Dink wrote which had landed its author in court, the Internet became a focus of attention in Turkey. It turned out that the extreme nationalist and fascist ideas that led to Dink's death were able to take root, spread and find support in this virtual environment. Suspects detained in relation to the murder in various parts of Turkey were linked through certain web sites. Many writers referred to the phenomenon as a new form of gang for today's society: the 'internet gang'. The dangers of such gangs are that they are easy to find but difficult to disband. They can easily find adherents, manipulate those who are in doubt; at the same time, while open to anyone who happens to click on the right link, they are sufficiently disguised. Secrecy is achieved not through privacy but through anonymity.
After the Dink murder, many people were shocked to discover the kind of criminal ideas that are openly espoused on the internet, and the freedom it offers was once again debated. But this time it was not merely a debate on whether censorship is bad without exception, or whether it can sometimes be necessary. Rather it centred on the difficulties of keeping an official eye on what's happening on the internet and then acting accordingly - for example, tracking down the people expressing the criminal ideas, or interpreting the significance of a threat openly voiced in the safety of the virtual environment.
It was in this safe atmosphere that we first saw the YouTube video in which Dink's murderer Ogun Samast, in his white hat, was portrayed as a 'hero' with his picture inserted on a billowing Turkish flag. This disturbing picture was occasionally replaced by even more disturbing ones: pictures of Dink's body lying on the pavement, covered with newspapers, presented like the first enemy shot down in a war. There followed warnings to Orhan Pamuk and Elif Safak, and all these menacing scenes were accompanied by a horribly racist song.

That video and similar ones should have been removed, and their creators traced if possible. Nobody expected that access to YouTube should be denied to the whole country, but whatever control mechanism YouTube had to stop criminally offensive videos had to be enforced. Turkish people, or authorities, should have reacted to it. Did they? No.
Are they trying to trace those fascist internet gang members? Maybe so, but Turkey is a country where these efforts could go on for years and bear no fruit, or could be resolved in a matter of days, without necessarily following every official procedure. It all depends on the will.

Where there's a will …
Obviously there was no lack of it when, in one of the speediest court decisions in Turkish history, it was ruled that a video on YouTube insulted our nation's founder and great leader Ataturk. Turkey straightaway shut down access to YouTube for the whole country. There was no joking matter there.
The phone monopoly Turk Telekom, which runs Turkey's internet infrastructure, barred access to YouTube after receiving an order from the Court. Human-rights activists argued that the decision violated freedom of expression. Yusuf Alatas, head of the Human Rights Association, said the case highlighted "the general problem that Turkish judges don't protect speech but instead are used to limit expression … the judiciary acts as a censor."
YouTube stayed barred for two days and access was permitted again once the video was permanently removed. The video allegedly was mocking Turks and Ataturk with references to homosexuality. It was said to be a part of the battle between Turks and Greeks, carried out this time in a virtual environment, and it was one of the many insulting videos that both sides deploy against each other. There are no reports of the Greeks starting any legal procedure against the videos or protesting YouTube, let alone barring access to it in desperation.

The case of Turkey
In Turkey however, as usual, one of the many prosecutors who act like a radar in detecting 'things wounding national sensitivities' detected this video and felt wounded and applied the court. The court acted with an impressive promptness basing its action on one of the unique laws in Turkey which protests Ataturk's legacy.

Can the internet be banned?
The process raised questions about internet regulations in Turkey. Can Turkey block access because it cannot control its content? This is not the first time that a video has evoked reaction in a country. It is said that a video that displayed a rape scene was removed. Another, mocking Bush, was taken out. A third one, showing a banker having sex on a beach with an ex-girlfriend of famous footballer Ronaldo, was also removed. But the court decisions ruling them to be insulting or violating privacy were submitted to YouTube, which deleted the videos, saying they violated the site's terms of use. YouTube in fact has its own control mechanism too. If a certain number of people who watch a video disapprove of it, then it is removed. But it can always be posted again under a different name. In that event, a court ruling is a more decisive and permanent solution
But no institutions can compete with Turkish ones when it comes to being decisive. If our institutions want to, they can act in such a way as to leave no doubt on how strongly they feel on the issue, in case what insulted them is judged not all that offensive by others. It is like showing to the world, as well as to the more liberal minds with more democratic tendencies within this country, where we draw the line. The more spectacularly they show it, the merrier and prouder they are. Meanwhile, videos screaming joy over murders keep being reproduced with no visible reaction from the same touchy institutions.