Turkey amends speech law, censors YouTube
Turkey's government is expected to announce a reform of Article 301, the law against insulting "Turkishness" that has been used to prosecute writers who have addressed such issues as the Armenian genocide. The moves comes as a precondition for Turkey's acceptance to the European Union. (NYT, Jan. 25) Meanwhile, Turkish authorities blocked access to YouTube for six days after a court order in response to video clips allegedly insulting the country's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. (AP, Jan. 24)
See our last posts on Turkey and the free speech struggle.
Turkish court hears 'insult' case
From BBC, Jan. 28:
Turkey amends headscarf law
From AFP, Feb. 9:
OK readers—who is on the side of freedom here? Should women have the right to wear the headscarf in the university? Or is that opening the door to the kind of authoritarianism that we see in Iran?
Sound off...