John Lennon
(ANSAmed) - ANKARA - An incomplete translation of John Lennon's song Imagine during Turkish state TV coverage of the Olympics closing ceremony has the country's independent media and secular opposition up in arms.
A reporter from state-run TRT television translated the famous song live, but omitted the last part of the lyrics when he came to the lines ''Imagine... nothing to kill or die for / And no religion too.'' Oversight or censorship? The jury is still out, but the center-left opposition and secular organizations accuse Islamic nationalist Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan - whose pet project is a gigantic mosque to dwarf all other mosques, which he has promised the people of Istanbul - of secretly wanting to Islamicize the country. Not only that, but he is willing to quash dissent by muzzling the press in order to do so. Which, says the opposition, directly contravenes the secular tenets of the constitution laid down by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
''TRT refuses to imagine a world without religion, and censors Lennon,'' Hurriyet daily said. (ANSAmed).
