Check it out HERE:

November 28, 2007—Updated 1141 GMT (1941 HKT)

Turkey probes atheist’s ‘God’ book

ANKARA, Turkey (AP)—A Turkish prosecutor has launched a probe into whether a book by best-selling atheist writer Richard Dawkins is an attack on religious values—a move that could lead to the prosecution of the book’s Turkish publisher. ...

An example of what happens when you challenge religious orthodoxy.

What happened to Turkey being a supposedly secular country?

Well, Turkey is way behind the rest of Europe when it comes to religious liberties.

erasmusinfinity - 29 November 2007 05:08 AM

Well, Turkey is way behind the rest of Europe when it comes to religious liberties.

Turkey is Europe???

GdB - 29 November 2007 06:27 AM

Turkey is Europe???

The smaller green piece on the map is in Europe. But Turkey wants to become a part of the European Union. The fact that the larger portion of the country is not geographically located in Europe is not a problem – it is everything else that is the problem.

Well, Turkey does have a secular democracy, protected by the military. But they are dealing with the same issues we are in the US, namely, a resurgent Islamist political faction that stems from the country’s conservative religious areas. I wouldn’t go so far as to claim that this shows turkish secularism to be dead; let’s first see where the court case goes. But at the very least it is a bad sign.

Yes you are right Doug.  There probably was an unfair generalization implicit in my earlier statements.  There are many wonderful committed secularists in Turkey and I do not in the least which to slight them.  We are all people and religious interference in government is an issue that can be found everywhere on the globe in various ways, shapes and forms.

As for whether or not Turkey is part of Europe…  For better or for worse, I think a case can be made either way.  This is quite a point of contention within the European Community and I’d rather not take a strong side.

erasmusinfinity - 29 November 2007 09:10 AM

As for whether or not Turkey is part of Europe…  For better or for worse, I think a case can be made either way.  This is quite a point of contention within the European Community and I’d rather not take a strong side.

This is certainly not the point at all. They haven’t allowed Turkey to become a member of the EU because the country is a mess. If anything, the geographic location of Turkey (which is definitely not in Europe) would only be convenient for EU, as it is located right next to middle eastern countries.

Is there a law against criticising religion? Do they not allow free speech in Turkey?

morgantj - 29 November 2007 01:14 PM

Is there a law against criticising religion? Do they not allow free speech in Turkey?

A well… In my opinion the state of Turkey is really a bit primitive in this respect. As you could read in the original article, calling the Armenian genocide what it is, is already forbidden. (Interesting: in Switzerland it is forbidden to deny that the Armenian genocide took place… It has the same status as holocaust denial.) In Turkey, you can be prosecuted by having critisism on the grounder of the worldy state of Turkey, Atatürk. Then Turkey has problems with the Kurdish people, even wanted to invade Iraq-Kurdistan… No, Turkey is still not a European country. It is divided in itself, and cannot be honest about their past.

So even when Istanbul may be on the European continent, cultural it is not Europe.

But I hope Turkey will once be: there are so many Turks in Europe: in the Netherlands, Germany, partially also in Switzerland. And in fact they are good people.

GdB

Turkey should stick to protesting Thanksgiving. 

Turkey is a beautiful country, as GdB says, very good people, and the only really secular Moslem country. So I don’t want to bash them too much. But they are far from perfect. (Neither is the US of course ...)