Tuesday, March 22, 2016


The Responses of the University Administrators to the Recent Arrests and the Suppression of Academic Freedom Are Vastly Different

Rector of Bogazici University visits the Prime Minister 

In a  rare show of public support, Rector of Bogazici University, Prof Gülay Barbarosoğlu and her advisor Prof. Mehmed Özkan met with Prime Minister Davutoğlu for Assist. Prof.  Esra Mungan, one of the signers of the declaration "We Will Not Be Party to This Crime," who has been arrested for alleged terrorist propaganda. Barbarosoğlu had also visited Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. Earlier the university senate voted for unconditional support for their colleague and made a press release demanding her immediate release and the protection of academic freedom.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr
http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr

Vice Rector of Sabahattin Zaim University Claims Academics for Peace Petition Proves Turkey Must Rely on 'the Acumen of the Uneducated Folk'.

Prof. Bülent Arı: "I trust the acumen of the ignorant and uneducated of this country. I mean, the ones who will sustain and uphold this country are the uneducated, illiterate, ignorant folk. They would never do such mistakes. What to do with that petition, where do I begin? They are dragging Turkey into the fire just like the Young Turks did. The educated groups, starting with the professors ending with the graduates are the most dangerous.  The ones who read the situation most accurately are the elementary school graduates. Because their mind is clear. The university graduates and postgraduates are perilous; they cannot read the trend and their heads are woolly."

'The higher the education level is, the more I get exasperated"

Let's go back to Hamidian Era. Sultan Hamid established institutions of higher education. Replaced the meager education the religious curricula of the medreses offered and spread the secular education all over the country. In other words, it is Sultan Hamid who created the Ottoman enlightenment. Then, those who got educated in these schools overthrew Sultan Hamid. Similarly  here, the higher the education level is, the more I get exasperated. Frankly, I am frightened. I trust the acumen of the ignorant folk. I am observing just like Refik Halit, the most dangerous in everyday traffic are the university graduates. Normally the uneducated people, when you tell them, they obey; they are no treats. The ones who fail to read the world are the educated ones. The more literacy increases in Turkey, the less people have the ability  to analyze the events."
...
http://www.evrensel.net/haber/275541