Academics for Peace North America present
Zeynep Gambetti, Boğaziçi University, Political Science & International Relations, Emeritus Professor
Berivan Tekdal, Boğaziçi University, Student
Ömer Demir, Boğaziçi University, Student
Moderator: Dilan Okçuoğlu, Global Kurdish Studies, American University, Postdoctoral Fellow and Professorial Lecturer
Public webinar via Zoom. Registration is required: https://bit.ly/3pVlf67.
In this webinar Boğaziçi University students and faculty will come together to speak about their ongoing struggle for academic autonomy and democratic university in Turkey. We aim to discuss the pressing issues of violations of academic freedom and undermining university autonomy in Turkey, which have lately been manifested through the case of the top-down appointment of a new rector to the Boğaziçi University by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The student and faculty protests against this top-down act by the President are criminalized by the government and suppressed violently: Students are subjected to brutal police violence, arrest, and detention; LGBTI+ students are singled out and targeted as “deviants'' by government officials and the media; the first practice of the new rector was to close Boğaziçi LGBTI+ Student Club ; faculty members and several students are targeted by the media as “criminals.” This webinar will give voice to two students and two faculty members from Boğaziçi University to talk about the increased oppression of academic freedom and autonomy in Turkey as well as their recent mobilization in defending the right to self-government and democracy. With this event, we aim to create awareness about the contemporary state of affairs in the universities in Turkey, and add to the international solidarity with academics and students in their ongoing struggle.
This event will also be streamed live on Twitter and Facebook and more information will be available on Academics for Peace North America social media accounts. Please follow their accounts for updates: Twitter: https://twitter.com/peaceacademics; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peaceacademics.
Co-organizers: Research Institute on Turkey
Co-hosts: Academic Solidarity Network; American University IMES; California State University, San Bernardino Center for the Study of Muslim & Arab Worlds; Cornell University Institute for European Studies at Einaudi Center for International Studies; Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies; Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP); New School for Social Research, Democracy Seminar; Research Institute on Turkey; Scholars At Risk; Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project.
Contact: Ekin Kurtic