Turkey censors Darwin and evolutionCourtesy Public domain via WikipediaThere’s concern in the scientific community as the Republic of Turkey seemingly expands its censorship of evolution. Turkey is one of the more secular Islamic countries, but recent events seem to show a growing trend in the Turkish government's crumbling stance on evolution. In 2008, the country’s Council of Information Technology and Communications (BTK) banned access to evolution websites including www.richarddawkins.com, www.aboutdarwin.com and www.darwin-online.org.uk. (Access to some other previously banned evolution sites was later allowed). The next year, the cover story of a science magazine celebrating the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth was removed just before publication but later reinstated after public outcry. In 2011, Turkey’s Council of Information Technology and Communications (BTK) released secure “Child Profile” Internet filters that, along with guarding against access to pornography, blocked sites containing words such as “Darwin” and “evolution”.

Now the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) has stopped publication and sale of all evolution books its archives. The TÜBITAK website has long listed books by such evolution writers as Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, and J a m e s W a t son as “out of stock”, but now titles by these and other writers like will no longer be available.

SOURCE and LINKS
Turkey's Hurryiyet Daily News
Telegraph story
Nature editorial
Reason.com

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