the ideology of lexical choices in the turkish translations of oliver twist

2.2.4.5. Some Counterarguments
There are also some people who have different opinions about the issue. They
do not share the belief that the publishing houses are ideologically oriented or that
they endeavor to indoctrinate children in religion. In an article “100 Temel Eser
Tartışması Trajikomik” (“The Controversy over 100 Essential Readings is
Tragicomic”), that appeared on http://www.haber7.com/haber.php?haber_id=182924
(2006), Yusuf Buz, identified as a distinguished linguist who completed his graduate
study at Leeds University in London, observes that the anxiety that the existence of
such statements as ‘hayırlı sabahlar’ and ‘Allah rızası için’ in the translations would
bring about affinity for religion on the part of children is absolutely ridiculous. He
says that if these statements are that problematic, they have to be removed from
Turkish dictionaries.
In his article entitled “Çevirilerde İdeolojik Müdahaleler” (“Ideological
Manipulations in Translations”) that appeared on Zaman Online on September, 5,
2006, Herkül Millas says that he has always been annoyed with publishers’ and/or
translators’ ideological manipulations. However, he points out that people who are
engaged in the controversy over ideological distortions made in Western classics are
actually the ones who are ideologically oriented, and they only make unfounded
generalizations about the publishers in order to prove the malicious intent on the part
of Islamists and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which is said
to be religious-leaning. He argues that those people, who previously put up with the
ideological distortions in translations made by chauvinists have ‘suddenly’ become
extremely sensitive to the ‘distortions’ made by Islamists. He argues that the
translation of the word ‘God’ as ‘Allah’ is not a distortion, yet it demonstrates that
‘free translation’ is employed as a translation strategy by the translator. In brief,
Millas believes that ‘prejudice’ prevails in the controversy over ‘100 Essential
Readings’ (2006; http://www.zaman.com.tr/webapp-tr/haber.do?haberno=343887).
Likewise, in the article “Tahrifatçılık: Nerede ve Nereye Kadar?”
(“Distortions-Where and to What Extent?”), Atilla Yayla seems to agree with Herkül
Millas in that people who are involved in the controversy are merely revealing their
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