In Erdogan’s Turkey, Censorship Finds Fertile Ground
Censorship in Turkey is on the rise, raising questions about the state of Turkish democracy, writes Sibel Utku Bila.
ANKARA — The zeal of Turkish censorship seems to know no limits. It has recently set a new landmark with a bid to censor John Steinbeck’s classic, "Of Mice and Men," on grounds of “immorality.” The controversy raised fresh misgivings over freedom of expression in Turkey, landing the American author in a crowded club of victims, ranging from Chuck Palahniuk and John Lennon to The Simpsons and Piglet.
Steinbeck’s books have been challenged many times by conservatives in the United States as well, but in Turkey — a country where dozens of journalists languish in jail and whose premier believes that “some books are more destructive than bombs” — the stakes are much higher.
