YouTube ban lifted. But not web censorship…

YouTube Ban Finally Lifted

from Bianet :: English
The access ban to the YouTube video sharing site was lifted after 2.5 years subsequent to the removal of the controversial videos that allegedly insulted the memory of Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic.

Turkey Lifts YouTube Ban

from Mashable! by Stan Schroeder

Turkey has lifted its ban on YouTube after two years of blocking access to the popular video site.

Back in March 2007, a Turkish court ordered YouTube to be banned in that country because of offensive comments about the founding father of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. This ban was eventually lifted, but videos insulting the founding father caused one new ban after another; YouTube was finally completely blocked in Turkey in May 2008, with the blockade lasting more than two years.

OSCE welcomes end of Turkey YouTube ban

Logo of the popular video-sharing website YouTube. The OSCE on Monday welcomed a Turkish court’s decision to end a three-year ban on video-sharing site YouTube, and urged the country to allow access to thousands of other blocked websites.(AFP/HO/File)

************************

Eight ways to assess the quality of Turkish democracy

by istanbulnotes

What makes for a high-quality democracy? If we could answer this question satisfactorily, we would be well placed to deal systematically with some of the perennial questions of Turkish politics (what are the country?s democratic shortcomings? which reforms should it prioritise?), and to assess the various proposals for constitutional reform that will be forthcoming in the months and years ahead. Fortunately for us, there?s a growing amount of work being done in this area.

In 2003, Larry Diamond and Leonardo Morlino brought together a group of democratisation experts for a research project on the quality of democracy. The project?s aim was to identify the characteristics that distinguish high-quality from low-quality democracies. In the book that resulted from their project, Assessing the Quality of Democracy, Diamond and Morlino identify eight different dimensions on which democracies vary in quality. In this post, I?ll provide an outline of these eight dimensions of democratic quality. I?ll also add a few observations about aspects of how Turkey performs on each, but my objective here isn?t to be comprehensive by any means.

FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK – Hopes dashed further in Dink case

In a move that disappointed many who were expecting justice to be served in the murder case of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, an İstanbul court early this week decided to send Dink?s hitman, Ogün Samast, to juvenile court because he was below the age of 18 when he committed the murder in 2007.

“Files of Triggerman Suspect and Main Trial Should be Re-merged”

from Bianet :: English

The National Intelligence Agency informed the court that Dink was warned in a “semi-official appointment” at the Istanbul Governorship. The joint lawyers of the Dink family will apply to re-merge the files of prime suspect Samast and of the main trial.

Turkish media comes under legal pressure – BusinessWeek

RSF: Turkey Did not Learn its Lesson from ECHR Decision

from Bianet :: English
Reporters without Borders criticized the latest hearing of the Hrant Dink murder trial: “The delays, obstacles and setbacks still dogging this trial seem to indicate a continuing desire to shed as little light as possible on a case of national importance”.

KATHY HAMILTON – Enhancing the mother tongue

Like many other expats, my son attends a private Turkish school that has English classes as a part of the curriculum, beginning in kindergarten. Of course, since English is his mother tongue, he often finds the language classes for his age group boring and repetitive.

Journalist Baransu: Witness and Defendant in One

from Bianet :: English
The General Staff filed a complaint against Taraf newspaper reporter Baransu for an article about Dep. Chief of General Staff Güner. The journalist faces a heavy prison sentence. At the same time, Defendant Baransu is a witness in the related investigation into the General Staff.

Discover more from Erkan's Field Diary

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.