Ankara, Turkey
A Turkish court has cut off the country’s access to Wordpress.com, one of the largest blog hosters in the world. The ban is a result of a lawsuit by Turkish millionaire Adnan Oktar, who claimed that blogs hosted by the San Francisco–based site had libeled him. Oktar, a Holocaust denier and prominent Muslim creationist, publishes religious books under the pen name Harun Yahya. He attracted international criticism this year when he sent his 770-page book, The Atlas of Creation, to schools and museums across the U.S. and Europe. Wordpress hosts more than 1 million blogs that get 12 million page-views a month in Turkey. Turkish bloggers have begun moving their blogs to other sites.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'Time-honored political tactic: Throw your wife under the bus'Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
-
Best non-alcoholic spirits for summer cocktailsThe Week Recommends As hard liquor takes a backseat for many, the ingredients for the perfect mocktail are dryly delicious
-
Will Biden's tariffs hinder China's EV dominance?Today's Big Question Climate change goals and American jobs in tension
