Turkey: Freedom of expression, or freedom only to express views accepted by the state? The question was moot this week after a top Turkish university called off a conference on the fate of the Ottoman Empire's Armenians following government criticism.
The three-day meeting would have been the first in the country's history open to academics sceptical of the officially sponsored claim that it was inter-ethnic war, not a deliberate state policy of ethnic cleansing, that led to the deaths of up to one million Armenians in 1915.
It was just the latest sign that the wall of silence surrounding the country's greatest taboo was beginning to crumble.
But after days of sniping, the project collapsed on Tuesday, when Turkey's justice minister told parliament it amounted to "stabbing the Turkish people in the back".
"The time has come to stop those who carry this country's passports from making propaganda against the country," Cemil Cicek said, to thunderous applause.
The rector of Istanbul's Bosporus University promptly announced she was postponing the conference to avoid "possible consequences."
On Wednesday, university sources say, state prosecutors had demanded copies of all the scheduled papers.
Traditionally cautious, Turkey's media expressed outrage at the minister's meddling.
"Zero tolerance on liberties" ran the Thursday headline in the liberal daily Radikal.
"If the minister thinks he is serving the country with these phrases worthy of a military putsch, he is profoundly mistaken," columnist Semih Idiz wrote in the centrist daily Milliyet on Thursday.
The controversy already shows signs of extending beyond Turkey's borders.
Ankara has until October to persuade Brussels it is ready to start accession proceedings with the European Union. Heavily criticised in Europe since March for dumping reformism in favour of nationalist populism, Turkey's government is watching with increasing concern the rise of conservative parties in France and Germany opposed to its membership.
"Until now, anti-Turkish politicians in Europe have been hard pressed to find convincing arguments against its accession," said one EU diplomat in Ankara. "Cicek has just handed them one free of charge."
But it is within Turkey that his outburst is likely to resonate furthest. Nationalism has been on the rise since the beginning of the year, spurred by the growing realisation that the changes Turkey must make for its EU bid are essentially non-negotiable,
Things turned ugly in March following an attempt by three youths to desecrate the Turkish flag at Kurdish new year celebrations. "It's the people's turn to speak," said the country's top general.
On April 6th inhabitants of the northern city of Trabzon took him at his word, rounding on five left-wingers local TV falsely alleged were Kurdish separatists. Only prompt intervention by the police saved them from certain death.
Analysts fear Mr Cicek's words could spark a repeat performance.
Bosporus University's decision to cave in to the minister's attack, says political scientist Hasan Bulent Kahraman, "is the strongest proof possible that threats get results in this country . . . The lynch mob has once again been called into action."