It's a farce, a kind of a Shakespearean ‘comedy of errors’. The publicity and mental turmoil created by the arrest of a university rector contain every aspect of misunderstandings masterfully concealed by a public relations campaign. The ruling party and the government may suffer a great deal because of this or gain from it.

Universities aren't ordinary places in Turkey. Whenever there's political upheaval or an uprising there, it reaches far-flung places in a country which isn't renowned for its educated classes. Throughout our history almost all radical changes have taken place or started in and around universities. During Ottoman times, when university students took to the streets with the aim of realizing a modest change in their daily lives, such as a raise in their monthly stipends, they always received what they wanted. The rallying cry for Ottoman students was a demand for "Sharia." They weren't demanding a regime change or that the state should become a religious one, since the state was strictly religious at the time, but they were asking for justice to be maintained.

All the military coups of the Republican era were based on unrest and political killings at universities. Many professors were victims of political clashes between fighting factions of students, and over 5,000 students lost their lives before three military interventions.

University professors have another role to play in military takeovers in Turkey: In 1960, for instance, the military rulers were considering returning power to civilians in the near future and appeared lenient towards politicians from the previous regime facing charges and didn't think about condemning them to capital punishment. Some professors stepped in with a dire warning that the military should maintain control for longer if they didn't want the reactionary forces to make a comeback. Their warning on capital punishment was ominous: Without hangings, the legitimacy of the military coup would be null and void.

And they got what they demanded.

The heads of every university in Turkey, together with members of the Board of Higher Education (YOK), traveled to Van, a city in the east of Turkey, last weekend, to show solidarity with the president of the local university who's been arrested. YOK head Erdogan Tezic criticized the court's decision to have him arrested and its implementation by the local police and gendarmerie. The aim of their visit was to show universities' discontent at this development.

I could accept any kind of show of solidarity between colleagues, but the support given to a university president when he's facing charges, not because of his views or scholarly opinions or for his academic endeavors but an alleged crime of corruption, is a little bit far-fetched and beyond my liking. The university rector is under arrest and waiting to be brought to justice because he allegedly set up a mechanism to gain unlawfully from tenders.

True or not, it's up to the judiciary to rule on the allegations. In a country where the rule of law is prevalent, every citizen, including those with connections to universities, should respect judges' decisions. In the case of the rector of Van's university, two different courts, each after long deliberation, backed the public prosecutor’s order for an arrest.

Why did the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan come out to defend the judiciary’s decision, although the justice system is independent in Turkey? And why did university rectors declare that defending the rector of Van's university is also a defense of the republic? These are the questions that deserve some attention.

YOK’s decision to strip Omer Dincer, undersecretary for the prime minister, of his professorship and ban him from using his academic title on grounds of plagiarism, is the reason behind Tayyip Erdogan’s outrage. He believes that YOK is exacting its revenge and using the visit of university rectors to Van as an opportunity to pick a bone with the board’s chairman, Tezic. Tezic, for his part, sees the arrest of a university rector as a first step in a government takeover of the entire university system.

From my vantage point, I'm watching this new development with apprehension, based on my reading of our political history. It's almost impossible to motivate university students, as well as lecturers, for any good cause in our country whenever they leave their campuses, so I'm expecting something dire to happen.

The inner voice resonating in my mind assures me otherwise, however, “Not this time.” If this is the case, and nothing bad comes out of this university upheaval, this will mean that Turkish democracy has clearly matured or this government is radically different from its predecessors. Both would be welcome.

From The New Anatolian, 25 October 2005

 

Believe it or not! - October 18, 2005 A revolution, alla Turca - October 11, 2005 Facing the music - October 4, 2005 Donkeys and other lost opportunities - September 27, 2005 Bitter realities - September 21, 2005 Guess who's coming to dinner - September 6, 2005 Finding unity in diversity - August 23, 2005 What's in a name? - August 16, 2005 Alive, well, and kicking - July 26, 2005 To be or not to be - July 19, 2005 It's a mad, mad, mad world - July 12, 2005 Politically correct, Turkish style - July 5, 2005 Non-fiction vs. Fiction - June 28, 2005 Out of sync, out of place - June 21, 2005 My mind's still numb - June 14, 2005 Mr. Erdogan is in Washington - June 7, 2005 I'm innocent - May 31, 2005 Humiliation: Today for me, tomorrow for you - May 24, 2005 If only we had dialogue - May 17, 2005 From Cairo with love - May 10, 2005 Eyeless in Gaza - May 3, 2005 A partner is still needed in Cyprus - April 26, 2005 'My name is State, Deep State' - April 19, 2005 Greed kills - April 12, 2005 From the observation deck - April 5, 2005 The mirror has cracked - March 29, 2005 Remembering things past - March 22, 2005 I invite you to use your imagination - March 15, 2005 A time for encouragement - March 8, 2005 The proof in the pudding - March 1, 2005 Hail to the Columnist! - February 22, 2005 It is in our blood, we do not waver - February 15, 2005 Excuse my question - February 8, 2005 A friend in need - February 1, 2005

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