ANKARA — The zeal of Turkish censorship seems to know no limits. It has recently set a new landmark with a bid to censor John Steinbeck’s classic, "Of Mice and Men," on grounds of “immorality.” The controversy raised fresh misgivings over freedom of expression in Turkey, landing the American author in a crowded club of victims, ranging from Chuck Palahniuk and John Lennon to The Simpsons and Piglet. 

Steinbeck’s books have been challenged many times by conservatives in the United States as well, but in Turkey — a country where dozens of journalists languish in jail and whose premier believes that “some books are more destructive than bombs” — the stakes are much higher.

The Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), in power since 2002, claims to have made Turkey an “advanced democracy.” In recent years, though, there have been increasing signs that this type of democracy is meant largely for those who sign up to the government’s policies and Islamic worldview. For the rest, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has almost daily tirades to deliver. His anger has boiled over, among others, over a sculpture not to his liking, a rock festival that offered beer to university students, and a soap opera chronicling lustful intrigues in an Ottoman harem. The premier’s outbursts are not without consequences: The “freakish” sculpture has been demolished, the rock festival has gone dry and the fictional sultan’s household has started praying.

Following in Erdogan’s steps, Turkey’s broadcasting watchdog is harsh on “offenders.” Last month, it slapped a $30,000 fine on a private television channel for insulting religious values over an episode of "The Simpsons," in which God was shown taking orders from the devil.