A complaint by Adnan Oktar (also called Harun Yahya) led to the banning of another internet site yesterday (September 24). This time, the 2nd Civil Court of First Instance of Gebze in İstanbul banned the internet site of the Union of Education and Scientific Workers (Eğitim-Sen), egitimsen.org.tr.

The access to the site was banned as a reaction to the Union’s press release about Adnan Oktar’s Creation Atlas, which was sent to the schools free of charge on February 28.

Describing the move as illegal, the Eğitim-Sen lawyers said that they were trying to remove the ban.

This is not the first time

Oktar’s complaints have already resulted in banning of the internet sites Ekşi Sözlük (Sour Dictionary), superpoligon.com and WordPress.com since April 2007.

The 2nd Civil Court of First Instance has just banned evolutionist Richard Dawkins’s site for the same reason last week.

The Eğitim-Sen representatives describe this banning as a counter-attack, since they had already declared they were going to be on Dawkin’s side; they had to be taught a lesson. They were not informed about the decision in advance.

According to the AFP news agency, 850 internet sites, among them YouTube, too, has been banned in Turkey. 

In May 2007, twenty non-governmental organizations that are expert in telecommunications had declared that the Law of 5651, passed on May 4, 2007, had many problems as far as the freedom of expression was concerned,  giving the bureaucracy the authority to censor any internet site without a trial.

In a joint declaration, the Association for the Software Profession (BİYESAM), the Informatics Reporters Association (BMD), the Linux Users Association (LKD), the Informatics Foundation of Turkey (TBV) and the Association for the Informatics Sector (TÜBİDER) have demanded protection of the freedom of expression against the bureaucratic authority to censor without trial. (EÖ/EÜ/TB)