Press Censorship GCSE, Skillset 1, Question 1
You are the leader of a sizeable country located at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, desirous of joining the European Union.
A video surfaces on YouTube, poking fun at your nation's favourite historical icon.
Do you:-
a) Smile ruefully and ignore the slur, knowing there are far more important issues in the world of politics for you to concern yourself with.
b) Issue a statement condemning the video, but reaffirm your government's commitment to free speech?
c) Throw all of your toys out of the pram, blocking access to the site until the offending video is removed, thus denting your chances of aforementioned EU membership?
Answers on a postcard to: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey, Istanbul
You are the leader of a sizeable country located at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, desirous of joining the European Union.
A video surfaces on YouTube, poking fun at your nation's favourite historical icon.
Do you:-
a) Smile ruefully and ignore the slur, knowing there are far more important issues in the world of politics for you to concern yourself with.
b) Issue a statement condemning the video, but reaffirm your government's commitment to free speech?
c) Throw all of your toys out of the pram, blocking access to the site until the offending video is removed, thus denting your chances of aforementioned EU membership?
Answers on a postcard to: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey, Istanbul
Labels: ataturk, censorship, turkey, youtube
posted by Rob Davies at 2:57 AM
2 Comments:
made me laugh!
While this is comic, Turkey's relationship with its national identity is rather worrying.
I mean in which other country in the broadly Western world can you imagine policemen proudly posing for photos with the principal suspect in the murder of a leading ethnic minority leader (Hrant Dink. And yes, unbelievably the police seemed to be proud of this boy's alleged actions).
We seem to have largely banished fascism from Europe only to see it reappear on its fringes. Turkey and Russia are showing some worrying trends at the mo. Any suggestions for what we in the West can do about it?
Nick K
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