Thursday Video: Stop calling Ataturk gay, say Turks
Turkey has again put itself in the news in an unflattering light and inadvertently demonstrated the absurdity of its censorship laws. For some reason, a Turkish court found it necessary to intervene in a video feud, of sorts, between Turkish and Greek posters on YouTube, by banning access to the site. The Greeks alleged that ...
Turkey has again put itself in the news in an unflattering light and inadvertently demonstrated the absurdity of its censorship laws. For some reason, a Turkish court found it necessary to intervene in a video feud, of sorts, between Turkish and Greek posters on YouTube, by banning access to the site. The Greeks alleged that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, harbored homosexual proclivities. Patriotic Turks retorted that this was untrue, and that in fact the Greek nation itself bore these characteristics. Of course, they didn't use such high-falutin' language. The debate would be pretty familiar to any twelve-year-old, though.
Turkey has again put itself in the news in an unflattering light and inadvertently demonstrated the absurdity of its censorship laws. For some reason, a Turkish court found it necessary to intervene in a video feud, of sorts, between Turkish and Greek posters on YouTube, by banning access to the site. The Greeks alleged that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, harbored homosexual proclivities. Patriotic Turks retorted that this was untrue, and that in fact the Greek nation itself bore these characteristics. Of course, they didn't use such high-falutin' language. The debate would be pretty familiar to any twelve-year-old, though.
YouTube has bowed to Turkish pressure and removed the original inflammatory post. What remains are a large number of strangely overwrought Turkish defenses of their hero—one of the less offensive of which is this week's Thursday Video:
Ordinarily, a ridiculous exchange like this stays in the schoolyard. Those posting may actually still be in grade school, for all that anyone knows. With the global commons that is emerging online, however, governments prone to meddling with free speech no longer know what to leave on the kiddie table and what to treat as dangerous. Which just serves to illustrate how ridiculous government concern over "insulting Turkishness," as the law phrases it, are. Adults in a free society should not be so delicate as to require government protection from juvenile insults to their nationality or religion. Taking these taunts so seriously only brings them greater attention and dramatizes a deep insecurity in those who feel so insulted.
More from Foreign Policy

Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?
The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.

Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World
It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.

It’s a New Great Game. Again.
Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing
The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.