Cole writes: "'Turkey blamed Isis [for the attack on Istanbul], which
Erdogan has been aiding in many ways, while also supporting the al-Nusra
Front, which is hardly different.'"
Noam Chomsky has rejected Erdogan's invitation to visit Kurdish areas in the
southeast of Turkey. (photo: Graeme Robertson)
Noam Chomsky Slams Turkish President Erdogan for Arresting Academics,
Supporting Extremism
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment
16 January 16
Matthew Weaver of the Guardian reports retired MIT linguist Noam Chomsky's
reply to a personal attack by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan criticized Chomsky and other international scholars who signed a
petition against the Turkish government's current vendetta against
Kurdish-Turkish citizens in the country's southeast. Erdogan demanded that
Chomsky come to southeast Turkey to see the terrorism committed by the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) with his own eyes, implying that Chomsky and
other signatories of the petition are mere armchair scholars.
Chomsky replied via an email to The Guardian:
"Turkey blamed Isis [for the attack on Istanbul], which Erdoğan has been
aiding in many ways, while also supporting the al-Nusra Front, which is
hardly different. He then launched a tirade against those who condemn his
crimes against Kurds - who happen to be the main ground force opposing Isis
in both Syria and Iraq. Is there any need for further comment?"
Chomsky points out that the Turkish air force has bombed the Syrian Kurds of
the YPG, who are distantly linked to the PKK. They are post-Marxists with an
anarchist bent- i.e. their ideology is close to Chomsky's own. Those Syrian
Kurds have been the most effective fighters against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). So
for Turkey to attempt to weaken the Syrian Kurds inevitably helps Daesh.
PKK fighters have also helped against Daesh in Iraq. Turkey has also been
bombing them. But the PKK has killed dozens of Turkish troops and police in
eastern Anatolia since Erdogan broke off the peace talks last summer.
Erdogan's government is supporting the Syrian Army of Conquest, a
Saudi-backed Salafi movement of rebels against the government of Bashar
al-Assad in Syria. One component of the Army of Conquest is the Nusra Front
or al-Qaeda in Syria. So Chomsky is reminding Erdogan that, iimplicitly, his
government backs al-Qaeda while bombing Kurds who are the best hope for a
victory over Daesh.
I doubt if Erdogan's government is helping Daesh. But it is clear that
Turkish and American armaments have been leaking from "vetted" groups to
al-Qaeda and Daesh. And, there isn't much evidence of Erdogan having taken
Daesh very seriously- the Turkish air force has flown a hundred times more
missions against the PKK than against Daesh.
The dispute began when over a thousand academics in Turkey and abroad signed
a petition directed at Erdogan and his prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu,
saying they would not be party to the crimes committed against innocent
Kurdish-Turkish villagers in the country's southeast, who were being harmed
and even starved by arbitrary curfews. The letter said:
"As academics and researchers of this country, we will not be a party to
this crime!
"The Turkish state has effectively condemned its citizens in Sur, Silvan,
Nusaybin, Cizre, Silopi, and many other towns and neighborhoods in the
Kurdish provinces to hunger through its use of curfews that have been
ongoing for weeks. It has attacked these settlements with heavy weapons and
equipment that would only be mobilized in wartime. As a result, the right to
life, liberty, and security, and in particular the prohibition of torture
and ill-treatment protected by the constitution and international
conventions have been violated.
This deliberate and planned massacre is in serious violation of Turkey's own
laws and international treaties to which Turkey is a party. These actions
are in serious violation of international law.
We demand the state to abandon its deliberate massacre and deportation of
Kurdish and other peoples in the region. We also demand the state to lift
the curfew, punish those who are responsible for human rights violations,
and compensate those citizens who have experienced material and
psychological damage. For this purpose we demand that independent national
and international observers to be given access to the region and that they
be allowed to monitor and report on the incidents.
We demand the government to prepare the conditions for negotiations and
create a road map that would lead to a lasting peace which includes the
demands of the Kurdish political movement. We demand inclusion of
independent observers from broad sections of society in these negotiations.
We also declare our willingness to volunteer as observers. We oppose
suppression of any kind of the opposition.
We, as academics and researchers working on and/or in Turkey, declare that
we will not be a party to this massacre by remaining silent and demand an
immediate end to the violence perpetrated by the state. We will continue
advocacy with political parties, the parliament, and international public
opinion until our demands are met"
The Turkish state responded heavy-handedly, arresting nearly two dozen
academics on charges of signing the petition, most of whom were released
after questioning. The petition does not support the Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK), a designated terrorist organization, but rather supports the human
rights of Turkish citizens of the southeast. But Erdogan and his partisans
accused the petitioners of supporting terrorism. It is a ridiculous charge,
similar to the tactics of the Likud Party of Israel, which equates
opposition to Occupation and oppression of Palestinians with support for
terrorism.
The Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of
North America wrote a letter to the Turkish government protesting these
moves:
"Dear Prime Minister Davutoğlu:
We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) of North
America and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our serious concern
over reports that the Higher Education Council (Yüksek Öğretim Kurulu, or
YÖK) had an emergency meeting to commence an investigation against scholars
who signed a petition for peace in the Kurdish regions of the country
("Peace Petition"). YÖK officials are reportedly treating this petition as
pro-PKK "terrorist propaganda" that falls outside of the protections of
academic freedom. Further, there are reports that YÖK plans to convene
university rectors to take additional action against signatories at their
universities. These actions by YÖK represent a violation of academic freedom
and are consistent with broader efforts on the part of the state to punish
critics of state policies.
MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle
East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the
Association publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and
has nearly 3000 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic
freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection
with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.
The government's actions against the Peace Petition signatories are
distressing for at least three reasons. First, investigating the signatories
after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized the campaign in a public
address, calling the signatories "traitors," suggests that YÖK's actions are
inappropriately politicized. As we noted in our letter sent on January 7,
2016, the government has enhanced YÖK's regulatory authorities in ways that
are inimical to university autonomy. In this environment, it is hardly
surprising that universities are proactively taking punitive measures in
anticipation of your government's actions. Within a day of President
Erdoğan's speech and the announcement of the YÖK investigation several
universities initiated punitive measures against their faculty. Assistant
Professor Hülya Doğan at Bartın University is reportedly under investigation
by her university for being a signatory of the petition. Likewise Sivas
Cumhuriyet University has reportedly launched an investigation against
Professor Ali Çeliksöz for having signed the petition. Associate Professor
Latife Akyüz has been suspended by Düzce University administration, and a
criminal investigation has been opened against her for "terrorism
propaganda"-all for being a signatory of the petition. The rector of
Abdullah Gül University in Kayseri, has reportedly demanded the resignation
of Professor Bülent Tanju solely on the grounds that he is a signatory of
the Peace Petition. The local prosecutor in Kayseri, taking note of the
rector's action, has also initiated a criminal investigation against
Professor Tanju under Articles 216 and 301 of the Penal Code. The mere act
of signing the Peace Petition has left Professor Tanju facing possible
charges for "inflaming hatred and hostility among peoples" and "denigration
of the Turkish nation" under these penal provisions. Lecturer Ümran Roda
Suvağcı from Hakkari University has been taken into custody for having
signed the petition. Further disciplinary investigations have reportedly
been initiated by the rectors of four universities-Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs
University, Antalya Akdeniz University, Abant Izzet Baysal University, and
Ankara Hacettepe University-against members of their faculties who are
signatories. Many more universities are likely to follow suit, amounting to
a wave of punitive actions against academics solely on the grounds that they
have criticized the government's policies in the southeastern provinces. In
a university system in which rectors are appointed by the state and YÖK is
free to initiate politicized investigations of academics, the actions being
taken against signatories of the Peace Petition are a stark reminder that
restrictions on academic freedom have become a matter of state policy in
Turkey.
Second, among the signatories of the petition are scholars whose research is
on the Kurds, other minorities, politics, history, and other related fields.
That is, their scholarly work is related to the concerns raised in the text
of the petition. By treating the Peace Petition as treasonous and launching
an investigation of signatories, the government is effectively interfering
with the ability of these academics to conduct their research. President
Erdoğan suggests that the petition calls for foreigners to intervene to
correct the situation in Turkey. In fact, the petition called for national
and international independent observers to monitor the situation in the
Kurdish region. This is not a call for foreign intervention, but rather an
invitation to engage in the kind of independent observation that is the
hallmark of both human rights monitoring and academic research. To
investigate and criminalize a petition in which scholars call for
independent observers to monitor areas under siege and curfew where civilian
deaths have been reported is to strike at the heart of the academic
enterprise-the ability to conduct independent research.
Finally, since the general elections in 2011, this is our twentieth letter
calling upon your government to protect academic freedom in Turkey.
Unfortunately, more often than not these letters have identified instances
in which members of your government have used their authority to silence
critics within Turkish academic circles by branding them terrorists or
traitors for engaging in academic research or exercising their right to free
speech to call for peaceful political change. Equally, these cases have
often arisen in the context of academics' conducting research or publishing
findings critical of your government's policies with respect to Kurdish
citizens or the Kurdish regions of the country. The politicization of
regulatory powers over higher education to punish dissent and silence
critics of your government's policies on various issues, including Kurdish
rights, represents a serious violation of academic freedom, freedom of
speech and freedom of assembly, and has cast a long shadow over the
democratic credentials of your government.
As a member state of the Council of Europe and a signatory of the European
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,
Turkey is required to protect freedom of thought, expression and assembly.
Turkey is also a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Final Act of
the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), all of which
protect the rights to freedom of expression and association, which are at
the heart of academic freedom. These rights are also enshrined in articles
25-27 of the Turkish Constitution. We urge your government to take all
necessary steps to ensure that these rights are protected.
We respectfully ask that your government take immediate steps to ensure that
YÖK drop any investigation of or action against the signatories of the Peace
Petition and that any actions-including university, YÖK or criminal
investigations or charges-against Professors Bülent Tanju, Hülya Doğan,
Latife Akyüz, Ümran Roda Suvağcı and others be reversed. As of this writing
reports are emerging about additional disciplinary investigations as well as
an independent criminal investigation launched by the Istanbul Public
Prosecution Office against all the signatories under Article 301 of the
Penal Code and Article 7 of Anti-terror Law alleging "terrorist organization
propaganda"; we respectfully demand that any such investigations also be
dropped. Against a backdrop of mounting international condemnation of the
erosion of democratic rights and freedoms under your administration, taking
steps to protect academic freedom and the right to education would be an
important step to address concerns about human rights in Turkey.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to your
positive response.
Yours sincerely,
Beth Baron
MESA President
Professor, City University of New York
Amy W. Newhall
MESA Executive Director
Associate Professor, University of Arizona "
Press TV: "Chomsky accuses Turkish president of hypocrisy"
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Noam Chomsky has rejected Erdogan's invitation to visit Kurdish areas in the
southeast of Turkey. (photo: Graeme Robertson)
http://www.juancole.com/2016/01/noam-chomsky-slams-turkish-pres-erdogan-for-
arresting-academics-supporting-extremism.htmlhttp://www.juancole.com/2016/01
/noam-chomsky-slams-turkish-pres-erdogan-for-arresting-academics-supporting-
extremism.html
Noam Chomsky Slams Turkish President Erdogan for Arresting Academics,
Supporting Extremism
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment
16 January 16
atthew Weaver of the Guardian reports retired MIT linguist Noam Chomsky's
reply to a personal attack by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan criticized Chomsky and other international scholars who signed a
petition against the Turkish government's current vendetta against
Kurdish-Turkish citizens in the country's southeast. Erdogan demanded that
Chomsky come to southeast Turkey to see the terrorism committed by the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) with his own eyes, implying that Chomsky and
other signatories of the petition are mere armchair scholars.
Chomsky replied via an email to The Guardian:
"Turkey blamed Isis [for the attack on Istanbul], which Erdoğan has been
aiding in many ways, while also supporting the al-Nusra Front, which is
hardly different. He then launched a tirade against those who condemn his
crimes against Kurds - who happen to be the main ground force opposing Isis
in both Syria and Iraq. Is there any need for further comment?"
Chomsky points out that the Turkish air force has bombed the Syrian Kurds of
the YPG, who are distantly linked to the PKK. They are post-Marxists with an
anarchist bent- i.e. their ideology is close to Chomsky's own. Those Syrian
Kurds have been the most effective fighters against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). So
for Turkey to attempt to weaken the Syrian Kurds inevitably helps Daesh.
PKK fighters have also helped against Daesh in Iraq. Turkey has also been
bombing them. But the PKK has killed dozens of Turkish troops and police in
eastern Anatolia since Erdogan broke off the peace talks last summer.
Erdogan's government is supporting the Syrian Army of Conquest, a
Saudi-backed Salafi movement of rebels against the government of Bashar
al-Assad in Syria. One component of the Army of Conquest is the Nusra Front
or al-Qaeda in Syria. So Chomsky is reminding Erdogan that, iimplicitly, his
government backs al-Qaeda while bombing Kurds who are the best hope for a
victory over Daesh.
I doubt if Erdogan's government is helping Daesh. But it is clear that
Turkish and American armaments have been leaking from "vetted" groups to
al-Qaeda and Daesh. And, there isn't much evidence of Erdogan having taken
Daesh very seriously- the Turkish air force has flown a hundred times more
missions against the PKK than against Daesh.
The dispute began when over a thousand academics in Turkey and abroad signed
a petition directed at Erdogan and his prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu,
saying they would not be party to the crimes committed against innocent
Kurdish-Turkish villagers in the country's southeast, who were being harmed
and even starved by arbitrary curfews. The letter said:
"As academics and researchers of this country, we will not be a party to
this crime!
"The Turkish state has effectively condemned its citizens in Sur, Silvan,
Nusaybin, Cizre, Silopi, and many other towns and neighborhoods in the
Kurdish provinces to hunger through its use of curfews that have been
ongoing for weeks. It has attacked these settlements with heavy weapons and
equipment that would only be mobilized in wartime. As a result, the right to
life, liberty, and security, and in particular the prohibition of torture
and ill-treatment protected by the constitution and international
conventions have been violated.
This deliberate and planned massacre is in serious violation of Turkey's own
laws and international treaties to which Turkey is a party. These actions
are in serious violation of international law.
We demand the state to abandon its deliberate massacre and deportation of
Kurdish and other peoples in the region. We also demand the state to lift
the curfew, punish those who are responsible for human rights violations,
and compensate those citizens who have experienced material and
psychological damage. For this purpose we demand that independent national
and international observers to be given access to the region and that they
be allowed to monitor and report on the incidents.
We demand the government to prepare the conditions for negotiations and
create a road map that would lead to a lasting peace which includes the
demands of the Kurdish political movement. We demand inclusion of
independent observers from broad sections of society in these negotiations.
We also declare our willingness to volunteer as observers. We oppose
suppression of any kind of the opposition.
We, as academics and researchers working on and/or in Turkey, declare that
we will not be a party to this massacre by remaining silent and demand an
immediate end to the violence perpetrated by the state. We will continue
advocacy with political parties, the parliament, and international public
opinion until our demands are met"
The Turkish state responded heavy-handedly, arresting nearly two dozen
academics on charges of signing the petition, most of whom were released
after questioning. The petition does not support the Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK), a designated terrorist organization, but rather supports the human
rights of Turkish citizens of the southeast. But Erdogan and his partisans
accused the petitioners of supporting terrorism. It is a ridiculous charge,
similar to the tactics of the Likud Party of Israel, which equates
opposition to Occupation and oppression of Palestinians with support for
terrorism.
The Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of
North America wrote a letter to the Turkish government protesting these
moves:
"Dear Prime Minister Davutoğlu:
We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) of North
America and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our serious concern
over reports that the Higher Education Council (Yüksek Öğretim Kurulu, or
YÖK) had an emergency meeting to commence an investigation against scholars
who signed a petition for peace in the Kurdish regions of the country
("Peace Petition"). YÖK officials are reportedly treating this petition as
pro-PKK "terrorist propaganda" that falls outside of the protections of
academic freedom. Further, there are reports that YÖK plans to convene
university rectors to take additional action against signatories at their
universities. These actions by YÖK represent a violation of academic freedom
and are consistent with broader efforts on the part of the state to punish
critics of state policies.
MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle
East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the
Association publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and
has nearly 3000 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic
freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection
with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.
The government's actions against the Peace Petition signatories are
distressing for at least three reasons. First, investigating the signatories
after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized the campaign in a public
address, calling the signatories "traitors," suggests that YÖK's actions are
inappropriately politicized. As we noted in our letter sent on January 7,
2016, the government has enhanced YÖK's regulatory authorities in ways that
are inimical to university autonomy. In this environment, it is hardly
surprising that universities are proactively taking punitive measures in
anticipation of your government's actions. Within a day of President
Erdoğan's speech and the announcement of the YÖK investigation several
universities initiated punitive measures against their faculty. Assistant
Professor Hülya Doğan at Bartın University is reportedly under investigation
by her university for being a signatory of the petition. Likewise Sivas
Cumhuriyet University has reportedly launched an investigation against
Professor Ali Çeliksöz for having signed the petition. Associate Professor
Latife Akyüz has been suspended by Düzce University administration, and a
criminal investigation has been opened against her for "terrorism
propaganda"-all for being a signatory of the petition. The rector of
Abdullah Gül University in Kayseri, has reportedly demanded the resignation
of Professor Bülent Tanju solely on the grounds that he is a signatory of
the Peace Petition. The local prosecutor in Kayseri, taking note of the
rector's action, has also initiated a criminal investigation against
Professor Tanju under Articles 216 and 301 of the Penal Code. The mere act
of signing the Peace Petition has left Professor Tanju facing possible
charges for "inflaming hatred and hostility among peoples" and "denigration
of the Turkish nation" under these penal provisions. Lecturer Ümran Roda
Suvağcı from Hakkari University has been taken into custody for having
signed the petition. Further disciplinary investigations have reportedly
been initiated by the rectors of four universities-Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs
University, Antalya Akdeniz University, Abant Izzet Baysal University, and
Ankara Hacettepe University-against members of their faculties who are
signatories. Many more universities are likely to follow suit, amounting to
a wave of punitive actions against academics solely on the grounds that they
have criticized the government's policies in the southeastern provinces. In
a university system in which rectors are appointed by the state and YÖK is
free to initiate politicized investigations of academics, the actions being
taken against signatories of the Peace Petition are a stark reminder that
restrictions on academic freedom have become a matter of state policy in
Turkey.
Second, among the signatories of the petition are scholars whose research is
on the Kurds, other minorities, politics, history, and other related fields.
That is, their scholarly work is related to the concerns raised in the text
of the petition. By treating the Peace Petition as treasonous and launching
an investigation of signatories, the government is effectively interfering
with the ability of these academics to conduct their research. President
Erdoğan suggests that the petition calls for foreigners to intervene to
correct the situation in Turkey. In fact, the petition called for national
and international independent observers to monitor the situation in the
Kurdish region. This is not a call for foreign intervention, but rather an
invitation to engage in the kind of independent observation that is the
hallmark of both human rights monitoring and academic research. To
investigate and criminalize a petition in which scholars call for
independent observers to monitor areas under siege and curfew where civilian
deaths have been reported is to strike at the heart of the academic
enterprise-the ability to conduct independent research.
Finally, since the general elections in 2011, this is our twentieth letter
calling upon your government to protect academic freedom in Turkey.
Unfortunately, more often than not these letters have identified instances
in which members of your government have used their authority to silence
critics within Turkish academic circles by branding them terrorists or
traitors for engaging in academic research or exercising their right to free
speech to call for peaceful political change. Equally, these cases have
often arisen in the context of academics' conducting research or publishing
findings critical of your government's policies with respect to Kurdish
citizens or the Kurdish regions of the country. The politicization of
regulatory powers over higher education to punish dissent and silence
critics of your government's policies on various issues, including Kurdish
rights, represents a serious violation of academic freedom, freedom of
speech and freedom of assembly, and has cast a long shadow over the
democratic credentials of your government.
As a member state of the Council of Europe and a signatory of the European
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,
Turkey is required to protect freedom of thought, expression and assembly.
Turkey is also a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Final Act of
the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), all of which
protect the rights to freedom of expression and association, which are at
the heart of academic freedom. These rights are also enshrined in articles
25-27 of the Turkish Constitution. We urge your government to take all
necessary steps to ensure that these rights are protected.
We respectfully ask that your government take immediate steps to ensure that
YÖK drop any investigation of or action against the signatories of the Peace
Petition and that any actions-including university, YÖK or criminal
investigations or charges-against Professors Bülent Tanju, Hülya Doğan,
Latife Akyüz, Ümran Roda Suvağcı and others be reversed. As of this writing
reports are emerging about additional disciplinary investigations as well as
an independent criminal investigation launched by the Istanbul Public
Prosecution Office against all the signatories under Article 301 of the
Penal Code and Article 7 of Anti-terror Law alleging "terrorist organization
propaganda"; we respectfully demand that any such investigations also be
dropped. Against a backdrop of mounting international condemnation of the
erosion of democratic rights and freedoms under your administration, taking
steps to protect academic freedom and the right to education would be an
important step to address concerns about human rights in Turkey.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to your
positive response.
Yours sincerely,
Beth Baron
MESA President
Professor, City University of New York
Amy W. Newhall
MESA Executive Director
Associate Professor, University of Arizona "
Press TV: "Chomsky accuses Turkish president of hypocrisy"
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
