Darwin brushed out of Turkish scientific journal
Published: 11 March, 2009, 15:35
The removal of an article devoted to Darwin from a Turkish scientific journal just before publication, as well as the dismissal of its chief editor, has sparked criticism over ‘censorship’ and ‘politization’.
2009 sees both the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth and has been declared the International Darwin Year.
The world’s leading scientific institutions and science-devoted media are marking the event in different ways – and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) has also decided to join in, Turkish Hurriyet Daily News newspaper says.
TUBITAK was planning to publish a 16-page article devoted to Darwin in the March issue of its magazine Bilim ve Teknik (Science and Technology) and to put his image on the cover, but almost out of nowhere, TUBITAK Vice President Professor Omer Cebeci removed the story, pulled Darwin’s image and reportedly fired Dr. Cigdem Atakuman – the journal’s chief editor.
The former chief editor of Bilim ve Teknik confirmed she was fired but refused to comment, nature.com reports.
The March issue was published a week later than planned – and without any traces of Darwin.
Both this TUBITAK’s move and the August 2008 amendments to TUBITAK’s charter that gave the government a certain degree of control over the institution have been considered an indication of growing political influence over the science institution.
“What is the reason for removing the Darwin story and photo from the journal?” the motion of Turkey’s main opposition party is quoted by Hurriyet as asking. “Isn’t it a kind of censorship to intervene in the journal’s content and cover page during the publication process? Is this an acceptable situation for a science institution to allow such an implementation?”
Many Muslims, as well as adepts of other faiths, doubt Darwin’s theory of evolution, which says that life on Earth developed according to the laws of nature and that all species have common ancestors, which completely opposes proponents of creationism.
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The significance here is the growing, glowering darkness of todays anti-science/pro-religious dogma movement in Turkey, countering the modern islamic renaissance of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. A parallel to the U S Republican Party's own "Born Agin" salafist movement intent on holy destruction and terror of a christian al Quaeda. Cheers? Axl