Nixon Should Have Thought of This

Türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sabah Newspaper, 12 March 2014)

//Sabah is a wildly pro-government newspaper, as
will become apparent to the astute reader.//


       Enter the copyright lawyers.


Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan has begun a personal
struggle against the publication on social media of
real and fabricated voice recordings obtained through
illegal means. While tapes of Erdoğan have not been
removed from You Tube, it has been determined that
recorded conversations of (now arch-foe) Fethullah
Gülen have quickly been taken off the website.

It has been learned that this situation is the result of a
company close to Gülen purchasing the voice copyrights.
Since Gülen is a writer, there was no problem with him
buying the rights to his own voice but there will have
to be a different procedure for Erdoğan.

For example, Erdoğan's speeches in public cannot be
copyrighted but his private conversations and any
future books he may write fall under the copyright
provisions. Once Erdoğan secures the rights no tape
of Erdoğan's voice can be used.

In this context, You Tube, which played an important
role in the publication of the tapes, although illegally
obtained, has refused to take responsibility. A suit has
been filed against You Tube. Erdoğan's lawyers
have shown as the reasoning in their filing in suits
against CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and the
prosecutors and public officials who perpetrated the
17 December purge (of Erdoğan's ministers and their
sons for corruption), that these illegal tapes should
have been destroyed but were not.

Consequently, efforts have begun to open a suit in
international channels against You Tube for publishing
the fabricated and illegal tape recordings in a similar
way.  It has been learned that officials of You Tube
have been in discussions with the Prime Minister's
office. While You Tube representatives disown any
responsibility for the tapes, the PM Office officials
find this hard to believe.

Meanwhile, RTÜK (Turkey's FCC, only much worse)
has prepared a report about TV broadcasts that aired
the tapes and penalties are expected based on this
justification: "broadcasts must be based on the rule
of law, justice and impartiality; they cannot contain
statements that violate a person's honor and privacy;
nor statements that demean people or institutions or
that ridicule or slander individuals."