Interestingly, I just received another post about the situation in Turkey
from a completely different source.
Political action seem to be the name of the game. Both YECs and ID are
focussing on pshing their agendas in the political realm. They are
essentially making an end run around the scientific community and proper
channels of peer review and scientific evaluation.
Keith
> The Theory of Evolution is on the Agenda of Turkey
> ISTANBUL / TURKEY
> ____________________________________
>
> Nowadays, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) has placed a new
> subject on its agenda: Darwin's theory of evolution.
> The two separate proposals presented by the two members of Parliament from
> The Virtue Party, which is the main opposition party in the Parliament,
> put "The inclusion of the theory of Evolution in school curriculum as if
> it is a proved fact without presenting the alternative views" on the
> agenda of the Parliament.
> In recent weeks, Prof. Dr. Ali Goren, the member of Parliament from the
> Virtue Party, gave a proposal to Metin Bostanciglu, the Ministry of
> Education. In his proposal, Prof. Goren briefly asked why the theory of
> evolution by Charles Darwin -a theory which has been already refuted by
> modern science in the 20th century- was still being presented in course
> books as certified facts. In his proposal, Prof. Goren expressed his views
> as follows:
>
> "Currently, primary and high school text books devote much space to the
> theory of evolution by Charles Darwin. Meanwhile, the impasse of the
> theory, the recent scientific data refuting the theory and explanations of
> men of science refuting the theory are not included. Has it been
> considered that adopting this unilateral educational program simply means
> to lay the proper ground for Marxism, anarchy, terror and other
> divisionist ideologies and to help to raise criminals by our own hands? Is
> it a rational and consistent implementation with our nation's interests to
> follow an educational program, which lays the proper ground for a
> communist, fascist and divisionist ideology, while millions of dollars is
> spent to eradicate divisionist forces and anarchy from the country and,
> for this cause, thousands of citizens sacrifice their lives?"
>
> The short written reply from the government upon this proposal added a new
> dimension to the discussions. The Minister of Education in the name of the
> Government stated that "the theory was a certified fact" and gave evasive
> answers to the questions. Not being content with these answers, Prof. Dr.
> Ali Goren delivered a speech in the Parliament on February 13th 2001. In
> his speech, he stressed that the theory of evolution is defeated by modern
> science of the 20th century and thus it is incorrect to call the theory "a
> certified fact". Prof. Goren also mentioned the detriments the racist
> views of Charles Darwin brought to the world. He explained that it is
> harmful to educate the new generations in the light of these racist views
> and included a quotation in which Darwin stated that the Turkish nation
> was an inferior race which had not completed its evolutionary process and
> that it would be eliminated by the Western superior races. Prof. Goren
> also added that the theory of evolution inspired communist leaders who
> established dictatorships like Lenin, Stalin and Mao and Karl Marx, the
> mentor of this ideology which caused disasters for the world. Goren
> concluded his speech with the words of Marx and Stalin praising Darwin.
> Prof. Goren quoted from Marx who said, "Darwin's book is very important
> and serves me as a basis in natural science for he class struggle in
> history." and from Stalin who said, "There are three things that we do to
> disabuse the minds of our seminary students. We had to teach them the age
> of the earth, the geologic origin, and Darwin's teachings." Prof. Goren
> expressed that the government needs to make changes in the curriculum to
> present all views objectively.
> The evasive replies of the Ministry of Education who spoke after Prof. Ali
> Goren indicated that the discussions would continue. Indeed, Prof. Ali
> Goren stated that he gave a research proposal to the Parliament about this
> subject.
> Last week, another member of Parliament from the Virtue Party gave a
> proposal about the theory of evolution. Musa Uzunkaya, in his proposal,
> raised the question: " What are the activities of the Ministry of Culture
> for the year 2001 to raise awareness of the public about the detriments of
> the Darwinist ideology and to make the scientific facts which defeat the
> theory acknowledged by every section of the society?"
> The topic of the theory of evolution owes its popularity in Turkey
> extensively to the famous book of Harun Yahya, The Evolution Deceit. This
> unique book which made a great impact in every country it was published
> provides concrete scientific evidence refuting the assertions of the
> theory of evolution. The English, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Arabic and
> Bosnian versions of the book is available in all corners of the world.
Keith B. Miller
Department of Geology
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506
kbmill@ksu.edu
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~kbmill/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Feb 19 2001 - 12:40:42 EST