Editorial: Turkey censors evolution


[moderator's note: This story makes me uncomfortable, but after
some thought I'm posting it because of the news value. Don't take
this as permission to talk about creationism: it's not. - JAH]

Nature 458, 259 (19 March 2009) | doi:10.1038/458259a; Published online 18
March 2009


Turkey censors evolution
Turkey's government has done more for science than many. A row over a
censored magazine and a sacked editor could put the good work at risk.

It has been the biggest crisis in Turkish academia since last year's lifting
of the headscarf ban in universities. Last week a portrait of Charles Darwin
was taken off the cover of the March issue of the government-backed science
magazine Bilim ve Teknik (Science and Technology) just before it went to
press. TÜBTAK, Turkey's national science funding agency, which publishes the
magazine, then sacked its editor, Çidem Atakuman. Scientists, assuming
censorship, are justifiably outraged and protests are ongoing.

Science minister Mehmet Aydn, a historian of philosophy and religion,
expressed discomfort at the cover's removal - but also fanned the flames by
commenting: "What kind of a fight can we have with Darwin? The guy is
already dead." He made matters worse by later adding: "[TÜBTAK] is supposed
to reflect the views of all those who have served science, no matter how
mistaken they can be."

TÜBTAK vice-president Ömer Cebeci, who sits on the magazine's editorial
board, pulled the plug on Darwin. He denied censorship, charging that
Atakuman had secretly changed an issue intended to cover global warming. Not
true, says Atakuman, who says Cebeci told her that the Darwin cover was a
"provocation" at a time of imminent local elections. One editorial-board
member of Bilim ve Teknik has resigned in protest at what he, at least,
considers censorship.

This row has brought into focus two issues that plague Turkish science. One
is political interference in the scientific civil service; the other is high
levels of public support for creationism.

In Turkey, as in many countries, the civil service is expected to mirror the
ruling party's ideology. So, although they are keen funders of research,
most senior government officials, in common with most of the population, do
not believe in evolution by natural selection. The education minister
Hüseyin Çelik, for example, has proclaimed his belief in intelligent design.
Yet Turkey is one of three current candidates for membership of the European
Union (EU). Ankara and Istanbul house the largest overseas missions of the
European Commission, whose officials are monitoring all aspects of Turkish
public life and constantly advising on what needs to be done to harmonize
laws and practices with those in the EU.

Science and technology was one of the first 'chapters' that the EU said it
was satisfied with and that, provisionally, did not require further reform.
Officials will now almost certainly be alarmed to see the extent of
political interference in TÜBTAK.

Only last week, the European Parliament issued a report stating that Turkey
needed to make much faster progress in areas such as censorship. European
officials will see this latest episode as evidence that the country has some
way to go on that score.

TÜBTAK needs to initiate a transparent investigation into the Bilim ve
Teknik affair. The organization should also consider making an unambiguous
statement of its position on evolution, intelligent design and creationism
to reconfirm its credentials as a serious scientific body. In the past,
TÜBTAK has provided reliable information on Darwin's theory in a country
where creation is offered as an alternative to evolution in high-school
biology teaching. The agency could do that again. After all, none of the
world's religions commands its believers to be creationists. Many Islamic
scholars and thinkers have speculated on the origins of life.

Turkey's ruling party must learn from this latest affair. It must keep
religion out of science policy, and be seen to be doing so.

Source: Nature
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v458/n7236/full/458259a.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek




.

Relevant Pages

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    (rec.martial-arts)
  • Re: WingNutDaily: Intelligent design scientist denied tenure at Iowa State
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    ... "The teaching of creationism does not belong in science classes ... Isaak's commentary is a defense of censorship; ...
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  • Re: The Reasonable Minority
    ... Dembski's ideas on his blog. ... "every" critical comment has been removed, only that censorship of pro- ... science views is well-known to frequently take place on Dembski's ... documenting how I was censored and banned by William Dembski himself. ...
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