back to article Turkey stuffs YouTube (again)

A Turkish court has banned YouTube access after someone complained that the world's most popular video sharer was hosting clips that insulted the country's founding father. And, yes, you've heard all this before. In response to a Turkish resident who stumbled onto YouTube videos badmouthing not only Mustafa Kemal Ataturk but …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A flame-war to end all flame-wars....

    Next you'll be telling us Kung fu monks went ape-shit over a troll who wanted to start a flame-war by saying a ninja whooped there ass.... Chuck Norris was mightly pissed.

    Like they say history repeats itself.... let's all post Neo-Nazi videos on YouTube, disrepect Shaolin monks and piss off Turks and start a flame-war to end all flame-wars!!!

    Don't forget to talk like a pirate today me matties! Aaarrrr

    http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

  2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    Going out on a limb here

    and I just might get into trouble for it, but for a country that shoots from the hip when it comes to disparaging remarks about the Founding Father (which I personally rather admire), Turkey apparently isn't so keen on keeping His Legacy live and well in the political arena.

    I'd like to see a bit more dedication to stamping out integrism, and a bit more effort in educating the rural areas, two things that Ataturk brought to his country by sheer force of will.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I expected nothing less...

    From my dear neighbors who never leave the chance to show to the rest of the world how uncivilized they are.

  4. Dam

    rofl, free speech anyone?

    Reckon the iraqui are gonna block youtube 'cause it parodies Sir Laden?

    I think I'm gonna push for a law that forbids badmouthing His Highness Adolf Hitler, then I'll have my country rape google over it, and ask for billions when they say they are "ready to cooperate".

    I'M THE FUTURE MASTER OF THE WORLD, BEWARE, CHUCK, I ARE LIEK COMING FOR THEE

    Really, who gives a fuck about them blocking youtube... They can block the whole namespace if they like, let them crumble from the lack of porn-related medicine.

  5. Iain

    Something nasty about Ataturk?

    Personally, I may feel the urge to go to Turkey at some point in the future, so I won't say a word against the great guy myself. But the temptation for others to go saying bad things about him on any and every website in an attempt to give the censors headaches must be pretty high.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    But it's true,

    Kemal Ataturk was a

    +++

    NO CARRIER

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That's one Turkey you can't get to vote for Xmas

    What a relief the headline wasn't Turkey stuffs YourTube.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Turkey & free speech

    I spent some time recently in Turkey and learnt a lot about Ataturk and personally was extremely impressed with the work he did on reforming Turkey to what it is today.

    Seriously though blocking a website for a whole country just because someone has parodied a past leader is way OTT, on one hand they proclaim themselves as a progressive nation and then they go ahead and do something more akin to deepest darkest communist China.

    Frankly they should make a decision to be a democratic nation or not accepting that not all of your population is going to respect all that a government does, I find this type of action something akin to the dark ages through Europe, idjits..

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    turks can look forward to more censorship

    not less, after they voted in the president with a suspected islamist agenda.

    Kemal Ataturk was a visionary and hero, it brought Turkey out of the dark ages and into the modern world, and he should be celebrated..but banning criticism is rather ridiculous in a democracy.

  10. Jerome

    Hey YouTube...

    In Soviet Russia, Turkey stuffs you!

  11. Marco

    Ataturk's legacy

    Instead of fiddling with what is being said about him on YouTube, the Turks should much more worry about protecting Ataturk's legacy from the Islamic powers in their country.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That's it, I'm moving!

    So... If I move to Turkey, people will stop sending me links to annoying and/or stupid youtube videos I don't want to see? Time to get me a passport or Visa or whatever I need.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Turkey future EU member? No way...

    Turkey won't have a chance in hell becoming a EU member with this continuing anti democratic attitude against people using free speech.

  14. p

    it happenes in EU too

    stop Turkey bashing. Even France has laws to turn down the switch on YT. If someone insults French hero, they certainly would. I see a lot of racist anti-Turks here.

  15. Suzan Deyhim

    Why don't you people know anything about history?

    I understand why Turkish people have a hard time dealing with the reality of their history-- the censorship within the country is so intense, the actual cost of speaking the truth so dire. Hundreds of people are in jail simply because of what they have written. At this point though, Turkey's actions are simply an embarrasment. Ataturk, by the way, was perhaps a great general, but as a leader, he literally criminalized the use of the Kurdish language, (the population of Turkey is at least 25 % Kurdish) and he is a war criminal, having ordered the genocide of at least forty thousand Alevi Kurds in Dersim, in 1937-38. He insisted that one could only be "Turkish". I don't know if anyone can imagine the effect of having your language be classified as "ilegal" but the entire policy of the Turkish Republic since it's inception has been a policy of forced assimilation, and genocide for all it's minority populations. I am not a racist by the way, I have spent a lot of time in Turkey, speak a functional Turkish and have a real love of Anatolian culture and life in all it's complexity and richness. And by the way, the AKP victory is perhaps not a bad thing. They have pulled the rug from under the military for the first time in the history of the Turkish Republic, and this is simply a result of democracy, which many people claim to respect.

    The place that was known as Dersim, (a Kurdish word which meant "silver door) has since been renamed "Tunceli" - which is Turkish and means "Bronze Hand". Most of the names of Kurdish (and Armenian) villages and towns have been renamed -= given Turkish names, in attempt by the state to erase history. It's not unlike what was done to the Irish.

  16. John A Blackley

    Cultural tolerance

    Oh my! What a cosmopolitan, tolerant bunch we have on today!

    Lots of "my" definitions of what is and is not 'democratic'. Lots of "my" opinions on whether culturally revered figures should or should not be mocked. Lots of "my" suggestions on what Turkey should and should not be doing.

    Folks, Turkey has occupied the borderland between a caucasian/European culture and an semitic/Arabian culture for a very long time. No, they're not like us (in the west) and, no, their values do not exactly mirror ours. This has nothing to do with whether or not they're democratic (by their definition), what they respect or how they react to perceived insults.

    And none of the above is grounds for jeering and disrespect.

  17. Doc

    @p

    ...the French have heroes?

    Aussie Doc

  18. p

    STOP HATE !

    Unfortunately Suzan Deyhim and her likes, instead of enjoying the life and avoiding the HATE, taking every oppportunity (including this IT website) to pour out their HATE against a nation, based on HIStory percieved to be real by some.

    19th and 20th Centuries were wasted by ALL of us trying to inflict pain on eachother.

    In fact. All sufffered at the hands of ALL. Victims have also been the the criminals. Lets not make the same mistake. Internet should not be an arean to HATE but to communicate constructively.

    Suzan Deyhim's comments precisely pictures what is wrong with YT. YT, instead of being a great communication tool, is being abused by AHTE mongor to insult others. This is not Free Speech. It is open insult.

    The Register is not YT. Stop using it as such.

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