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A children's book has been declared an "harmful publication" by the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services.
The book is entitled "Story Series of I Read, Too/ 3 - Magical Rainbow " (Ben De Okuyorum Öykü Dizisi 3 - Büyülü Gökkuşağı).
With this decision of the Ministry, the book will now be sold only to the ones aged 18 and older and in an opaque envelope or packaging.
In a statement released by the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services, it is said that the decision of the Board on Protecting Children from Harmful Publications has been published in the Official Gazette.
The statement of the Ministry has read, "... the Board has concluded that some expressions and descriptions used in the book would make a harmful (muzır in Turkish, which also roughly translates as obscene, explicit) impact on the spirituality and development of children under 18."
According to the written statement of the Ministry, the Board has made the following evaluations about the book:
"The book features the story of Yılmaz, who has been influenced by the story where girls become boys and boys become girls when they walk under a rainbow. In his dream, Yılmaz and his friend Dilek walk under the rainbow, the sexes of both of them change after this and they both return to their previous states after walking under the rainbow again.
"Given that the book has some expressions encouraging sex change, it might lead the children in different age groups to question their sexual identities and the expressions used in the book might harm the mental and emotional health and balanced development of children; moreover, it might have a negative impact on children's personal development and spirituality."
About the Board
Established as per the Law no. 1117 in 1927, the Board on Protecting Children from Harmful Publications is now affiliated with the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services as per the Article 38 of the Statutory Decree no. 703 issued on July 2, 2018.
Before this affiliation, the board used to have 11 members and were working in affiliation with the National Security Council (MGK), Prime Ministry, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health and Social Service, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Council of Higher Education (YÖK), Presidency of Religious Affairs and Journalists' Association.
However, with the legal amendment in 2018, this structure has been changed as well. The board now has five members, including a board chair, determined by the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services. All five members of the board are unit heads from the Ministry.
The related law stipulates that the publications deemed "harmful" shall be sold to the ones aged 18 and over and in opaque envelopes or packaging. Only "harmful for children" can be written on this packaging. It can have no other images or inscriptions other than this sentence. (HA/SD)
