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ANKARA: Turkey is the Loser

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  • ANKARA: Turkey is the Loser

    Turkey is the Loser
    By SAHIN ALPAY

    Zaman, Turkey
    June 1 2005

    I turned on the television to watch the evening news on Tuesday, May
    24. The top news item concerned the appointment of State Minister Ali
    Babacan as chief negotiator for Turkey in accession talks with the
    European Union (EU), due to start on October 3. His appointment was
    received generally very positively. Bahadir Kaleagasi, the Brussels
    representative of the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's
    Association (TUSIAD), even described Mr. Babacan as a "chief negotiator
    with full EU standards." The news continued with remarks made by
    Justice Minister Cemil Cicek in response to what Istanbul Deputy
    Sukru Elekdag of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and Aksaray
    Deputy Ramazan Toprak of the Justice and Development Party (AKP)
    said about the conference on "Ottoman Armenians During the Decline
    of the Empire: Scientific Responsibility and Issues of Democracy"
    (in which I too was scheduled to speak at a panel) organized by the
    Bogazici, Sabanci and Bilgi Universities on May 25- 27.

    The justice minister was saying: "This is a stab in the back to
    the Turkish nation~E In no university in the world can autonomy and
    academic freedom be interpreted as irresponsibility~E This conference
    is devoid of responsibility and seriousness~E I wish I, as Justice
    Minister, had not turned over my authority to prosecute~E I wonder
    what the Higher Education Council (YOK) will do about this issue~E We
    must put an end to this cycle of treason and propaganda against the
    [Turkish] nation by people who carry its citizenship." I could net
    help shouting: "Here is a minister with full EU standards!" I was
    dumbfounded by the insulting attacks against a conference that was
    organized by some of the country's most prestigious universities,
    even before it started, just because the organizers brought together
    people who questioned the official view on the Armenian issue. The
    minister not only inviting the public prosecutors to duty, he was
    also calling on the YOK to intervene.

    I soon learned that the Bogazici University was forced to cancel
    the conference. I was deeply saddened. This conference would have
    shown the whole world that Turkey is a real democracy, where on every
    issue very different opinions can be expressed, where academics can
    freely question the official views. It would also have shown that the
    "genocide" allegation is not accepted by Turkish civil society. I
    felt great pain for Turkey being still governed by individuals who
    are incapable of assessing the value of the conference from these
    points of view. I felt really bad about the damage Turkey would
    suffer in world public opinion as a result of the suppression of
    this conference. Turkey was the loser and the "genocide" claimers
    were the ones rejoicing.

    Let's turn to the real issue. The incident is a warning about
    a fundamental problem which has unfortunately been very much
    neglected: Academic freedom in Turkey is restricted to an extent
    that is incompatible with a true democracy. What is academic freedom?
    Academic freedom means that scientists are able to conduct research
    on any topic they desire, using any method they prefer without being
    subject to any political, religious or ideological pressure, and
    that they are able to freely express and publish the results their
    research. It means that university students as well as professors
    and scholars have the freedom to pose questions, conduct research,
    acquire knowledge and express views about issues. The philosophy
    behind academic freedom is the following: Human knowledge is based
    on an unending search for truth. All knowledge is open to discussion
    and questioning. The truth is not in the monopoly of any institution,
    government, party, group or circle. The duty of universities in a
    democratic society is to develop knowledge through research, to
    examine intellectual traditionals in a critical way, to educate
    students as productive - creative individuals, and to share the
    acquired knowledge and opinion with society at large. In a country,
    where academic freedom with all of its aspects is not appreciated,
    there can be no talk of university or science in the real meaning of
    the terms.

    I hope the canceling of the conference does not lead to further
    suppression of freedom of expression and academic freedom, but rather
    helps their expansion.
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