Turkish professor suspended for criticizing Ataturk's cult
December 4, 2006
International Herald Tribune
Source:The Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey: A Turkish university has suspended one of its professors for remarks he made about Turkey's revered founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, an official said Monday.
The case highlighted the European Union candidate country's continuing ambivalence over upholding freedom of speech.
Ankara's Gazi University suspended Prof. Atilla Yayla last week, after the political scientist criticized Ataturk at a conference in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, an official at the state-run university said on condition of anonymity because of rules that bar civil servants from speaking to reporters without prior authorization.
News reports said the professor was suspended after he referred to the late soldier-statesman as "that man," criticized the statues and pictures of Ataturk that adorn government offices and schools, and said an era of one-party rule under Ataturk had led to "regression rather than progress."
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Turkey's EU membership bid looks increasingly troubled over what European officials say is a slowdown in reforms, including in free speech, and on Turkey's refusal to open up its ports and airports to EU member Cyprus. The European Commission recommended last week that the EU freeze negotiations on eight of 35 policy areas in Turkey's membership talks, which started in October 2005.
Ataturk founded secular and Westward-looking Turkey from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, after saving the country from invading Western powers. Regulations require that his portraits are hung in government offices and schools, but Turks' affection is so great that many also hang his picture in their homes, shops and offices in respect for the leader.
His allure has endured despite his death in 1938 of cirrhosis of the liver but more and more Turks are questioning his legacy and the rigid way some of his followers — hard-line Kemalists inside the military, the bureaucracy and the judiciary — are interpreting his principles to oppose liberal reforms and change.
"They (the Europeans) will ask us why this man's pictures and statues are everywhere," Yayla reportedly told a group of people from the youth wing of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party.
The university's chancellor on Monday defended his decision to temporarily suspend Yayla until an investigation is completed.
A professor "does not have to like Ataturk but I cannot allow a person who is opposed to the Republic's main principles to educate students," Yamac told Vatan newspaper in an interview published Monday.
Yayla's comments have divided the Turkish public. A group of protesters sent Yamac a parcel containing sticky tape over the weekend, so that he may "gag professors." Others petitioned the university saying Yayla should not be allowed to teach.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
International Herald Tribune
Source:The Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey: A Turkish university has suspended one of its professors for remarks he made about Turkey's revered founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, an official said Monday.
The case highlighted the European Union candidate country's continuing ambivalence over upholding freedom of speech.
Ankara's Gazi University suspended Prof. Atilla Yayla last week, after the political scientist criticized Ataturk at a conference in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, an official at the state-run university said on condition of anonymity because of rules that bar civil servants from speaking to reporters without prior authorization.
News reports said the professor was suspended after he referred to the late soldier-statesman as "that man," criticized the statues and pictures of Ataturk that adorn government offices and schools, and said an era of one-party rule under Ataturk had led to "regression rather than progress."
Today in Europe
In Scotland, a revival of Gaelic
Italian emerges as an odd footnote in Litvinenko case
Schröder, in memoir, goes on the offensive
Turkey's EU membership bid looks increasingly troubled over what European officials say is a slowdown in reforms, including in free speech, and on Turkey's refusal to open up its ports and airports to EU member Cyprus. The European Commission recommended last week that the EU freeze negotiations on eight of 35 policy areas in Turkey's membership talks, which started in October 2005.
Ataturk founded secular and Westward-looking Turkey from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, after saving the country from invading Western powers. Regulations require that his portraits are hung in government offices and schools, but Turks' affection is so great that many also hang his picture in their homes, shops and offices in respect for the leader.
His allure has endured despite his death in 1938 of cirrhosis of the liver but more and more Turks are questioning his legacy and the rigid way some of his followers — hard-line Kemalists inside the military, the bureaucracy and the judiciary — are interpreting his principles to oppose liberal reforms and change.
"They (the Europeans) will ask us why this man's pictures and statues are everywhere," Yayla reportedly told a group of people from the youth wing of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party.
The university's chancellor on Monday defended his decision to temporarily suspend Yayla until an investigation is completed.
A professor "does not have to like Ataturk but I cannot allow a person who is opposed to the Republic's main principles to educate students," Yamac told Vatan newspaper in an interview published Monday.
Yayla's comments have divided the Turkish public. A group of protesters sent Yamac a parcel containing sticky tape over the weekend, so that he may "gag professors." Others petitioned the university saying Yayla should not be allowed to teach.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Labels: Turkey and EU
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 11:03 PM
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