March 7, 2007

Banning YouTube in Turkey... and you probably know why.

Somebody's making fun of Ataturk!
The court was acting on the recommendation of a prosecutor, who was himself apparently prompted by an escalating war of homemade YouTube videos created by ethnic Greeks and Turks, who antagonized one another with clips featuring images of Ataturk as hero or fool, the flinging of insults, and spurious incantations like “Ataturk is gay."
(I think this is a TimesSelect link.)

ADDED: "Spurious Incantations" would be a good name for a blog. "Ataturk Is Gay," not so much.

6 comments:

The Bearded Professor said...

Whew!! Slow down...I can't...[gasp for breath]...keep up.

What's this, like your fiftieth post this morning? My side hurts, and I need a drink of water.

JohnAnnArbor said...

They also are touchy if anyone brings up Armenians.

Free Lunch said...

Apparently our Congress is in the process of reminding Turkey of the Armenians.

I suspect that the government doesn't much like being told that it's oppressing the Kurds, either.

Steve Donohue said...

I think "Ataturk is Gay" was the second album put out by Styx. But that was a long time ago.

P_J said...

Steve,

Maybe you're thinking of "The Serpent is Rising"? :-)

Every time I hear "Ataturk" I think of some vizier encouraging a faithful servant.

"Ataturk!"

Joe said...

Mind you this is the same bizarro country that convicted a politician for referring to a rebel leader with the title "Mr.":

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6425043.stm

(Why they would be allowed in the EU is beyond me.)