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RECTOR STANDS UP TO MEDIA BULLIES TO DEFEND FOLKLORE TEAM'S RIGHT TO SING OUT
Today's Zaman, Turkey
May 18 2007
Senior faculty members at Istanbul's Bosphorus University expressed
"sorrow and outrage" yesterday at what they described as an attempt
by parts of the Turkish press to brand as Kurdish militants students
from the university's folklore club who participated in a musical
performance dressed in regional costume.
Mass circulation Hurriyet was the most prominent newspaper to splash
what its headline referred to as "Turkey according to Bosphorus
University" on its front page. The article continued over a full inside
page describing students singing Kurdish songs dressed in peshmerga
(Kurdish guerrillas) gear and contained photographs of a headscarved
girl playing a bright red electric guitar.
"If they want to quarrel with me, tha's fine. But it's a disgrace to
pick on our students. Imagine how the parents of that girl must feel
to discover their daughter being targeted as if she were a criminal,"
said Ayþe Soysal, the university rector. She said the students were
not dressed as soldiers but in native dress from the town of Bitlis
and that they were simply performing for a visiting Mexican folklore
troupe a routine that had been in their club's repertoire for more
than five years. "It's hard to understand why Hurriyet should suddenly
take notice," Soysal commented.
In a bylined column yesterday, Sabah Editor in Chief Ergun Babahan made
reference to the Hurriyet article, which he depicted as an attempt
to extract revenge for a ceremony organized earlier this week by
Bosphorus University to present Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk with
an honorary doctorate. The university was being punished for having
"crossed a red line" in paying tribute to the controversial novelist,
Babahan wrote. He described the press coverage of the folkloric event
as "fascist" and intended to polarize political attitudes.
The folklore performance took place on the same night as the Pamuk
ceremony. There had been few people in attendance; however, photos
and text was sent anonymously to major newspapers "like an informer's
letter," all of whom declined to publish the story. Hurriyet was the
exception, publishing the distributed text verbatim, according to
Bosphorus University sources.
Hurriyet was unique in sending a photographer and reporter to the
Pamuk doctoral ceremony and not referring to the story except in a
matter of fact way by its venerable arts columnist, Dogan Hizlan.
"Everyone I've spoken to assumes that the doctorate for Orhan Pamuk
is behind the article, but I can't say that myself," Rector Soysal
said. Hurriyet was among the most vociferous in attacking Pamuk for
referring to the deaths of Armenians in 1915 in a press campaign
that led to the author being put on trial in December 2005 for
"insulting Turkishness."
Innuendo that Bosphorus University had become a hotbed of anti-Turkish
radicalism was "The Empire fighting back," according one Bosphorus
University professor. Many inside the university share the conviction
that they have become the victims of a grudge campaign and have now
organized a letter signed by faculty members expressing pride in
the university's tradition of academic freedom and free artistic
expression.
The University Folklore Club has cancelled a performance scheduled
for tonight in protest and will be holding a discussion instead.
--Boundary_(ID_nrLqQndohTsFsRRjYXUx5A)--
Today's Zaman, Turkey
May 18 2007
Senior faculty members at Istanbul's Bosphorus University expressed
"sorrow and outrage" yesterday at what they described as an attempt
by parts of the Turkish press to brand as Kurdish militants students
from the university's folklore club who participated in a musical
performance dressed in regional costume.
Mass circulation Hurriyet was the most prominent newspaper to splash
what its headline referred to as "Turkey according to Bosphorus
University" on its front page. The article continued over a full inside
page describing students singing Kurdish songs dressed in peshmerga
(Kurdish guerrillas) gear and contained photographs of a headscarved
girl playing a bright red electric guitar.
"If they want to quarrel with me, tha's fine. But it's a disgrace to
pick on our students. Imagine how the parents of that girl must feel
to discover their daughter being targeted as if she were a criminal,"
said Ayþe Soysal, the university rector. She said the students were
not dressed as soldiers but in native dress from the town of Bitlis
and that they were simply performing for a visiting Mexican folklore
troupe a routine that had been in their club's repertoire for more
than five years. "It's hard to understand why Hurriyet should suddenly
take notice," Soysal commented.
In a bylined column yesterday, Sabah Editor in Chief Ergun Babahan made
reference to the Hurriyet article, which he depicted as an attempt
to extract revenge for a ceremony organized earlier this week by
Bosphorus University to present Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk with
an honorary doctorate. The university was being punished for having
"crossed a red line" in paying tribute to the controversial novelist,
Babahan wrote. He described the press coverage of the folkloric event
as "fascist" and intended to polarize political attitudes.
The folklore performance took place on the same night as the Pamuk
ceremony. There had been few people in attendance; however, photos
and text was sent anonymously to major newspapers "like an informer's
letter," all of whom declined to publish the story. Hurriyet was the
exception, publishing the distributed text verbatim, according to
Bosphorus University sources.
Hurriyet was unique in sending a photographer and reporter to the
Pamuk doctoral ceremony and not referring to the story except in a
matter of fact way by its venerable arts columnist, Dogan Hizlan.
"Everyone I've spoken to assumes that the doctorate for Orhan Pamuk
is behind the article, but I can't say that myself," Rector Soysal
said. Hurriyet was among the most vociferous in attacking Pamuk for
referring to the deaths of Armenians in 1915 in a press campaign
that led to the author being put on trial in December 2005 for
"insulting Turkishness."
Innuendo that Bosphorus University had become a hotbed of anti-Turkish
radicalism was "The Empire fighting back," according one Bosphorus
University professor. Many inside the university share the conviction
that they have become the victims of a grudge campaign and have now
organized a letter signed by faculty members expressing pride in
the university's tradition of academic freedom and free artistic
expression.
The University Folklore Club has cancelled a performance scheduled
for tonight in protest and will be holding a discussion instead.
--Boundary_(ID_nrLqQndohTsFsRRjYXUx5A)--