- Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Buyuktopcu_erhan

Twists and turns in Turkey's censorship story

Erhan — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:29:35 +0000

At last week’s Frankfurt book fair, where Turkey was this year’s guest of honour, Orhan Pamuk used his keynote speech to alert the world to the fact that hundreds of writers continue to be prosecuted in Turkey. Numerous articles in the Turkish penal code make it an offence to insult Turkishness, the memory of Ataturk, the judiciary, or the army. He went on to lament the consequences:

Move to ban ruling Turkish party

Erhan — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:51:44 +0000

Turkey’s chief prosecutor has asked the Constitutional Court to ban the governing AK Party, accusing it of anti-secular activities.

Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya said he believed that there was enough evidence to show the party had been contravening Turkey’s secular constitution.

The AK Party, which has Islamist roots, won last year’s general elections.

So any move to close it will be extremely controversial, the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says.