Turkey's science state council halts publication of evolution books

ISTANBUL

Charles Darwin. Hürriyet photo

The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) has put a stop to the publication and sale of all books in its archives that support the theory of evolution, daily Radikal has reported.The evolutionist books, previously available through TÜBİTAK's Popular Science Publications’ List, will no longer be provided by the council.The books have long been listed as “out of stock” on TÜBİTAK's website, but their further publication is now slated to be stopped permanently.Titles by Richard Dawkins, Alan Moorehead, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Levontin and James Watson are all included in the list of books that will no longer be available to Turkish readers.In early 2009, a huge uproar occurred when the cover story of a publication by TÜBİTAK was pulled, reportedly because it focused on Darwin’s theory of evolution.The incident led to intense criticism and resulted in finger-pointing by various officials of that publication and its parent institute.A few months later, the article in question appeared as the publication’s cover story.