Turkish Academics' Statement of Solidarity with Kurdish Detainees on Hunger Strike

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Nov 4, 2012 Turkey
[Celebration of the Kurdish holiday Newroz in Diyarbakir, Turkey, 2010. Image by sushiharold via Flickr] [Celebration of the Kurdish holiday Newroz in Diyarbakir, Turkey, 2010. Image by sushiharold via Flickr]

Turkish Academics' Statement of Solidarity with Kurdish Detainees on Hunger Strike

By : Jadaliyya Reports

[The following statement was issued by the below-listed Turkish academics in support of the demands and rights of the Kurdish hunger strikers protesting their detention.]

To the Press and the Public:

We, the academics listed below, would like to declare that we will include the Kurdish problem and the demands of the hunger strikers on our agenda-- in our academic activities, in the courses we present at our universities and in our written work-- until all Kurdish detainees can exercise their right to defense in their native language and until the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan is ended to re-establish his communication with his lawyers and to enable the continuation of peace negotiations.

The present situation in Turkey corresponds to a disaster that can no longer be covered up. The war that has now continued for thirty years has caused immeasurable emotional and material losses to the peoples of this land. Nature, humans, and society have suffered irreparable damage. Violence continues to be transmitted from one generation to the next without recognising any ethical boundaries; trauma spreads by defying the desire and need for solidarity, and is inscribed in our social memory only with its destructive force.

This war must urgently be brought to an end. The necessary political means must be created for the wounds to be recognized, treated, and, in time, healed.

The most urgent action to be taken in the name of peace right now is to do everything possible to stop the hunger strikes of the detainees.

We are here, and we stand united. We call on members of all occupational groups to take an urgent stand against the present condition of the detainees.

A. Selçuk Ertekin, Prof. Dicle Üniversitesi
Abbas Vali, Prof. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Abdullah Sessiz, Prof. Dicle Üniversitesi,
Ahmet Gürata, Doç. Dr. Bilkent Üniversitesi
Ali Akay, Prof. Mimar Sinan Üniversitesi
Ali Kerem Saysel, Doç. Dr. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Ayla Zırh Gursoy, Prof. Marmara Üniversitesi
Aynur Özuğurlu, Yrd. Doç. Kocaeli Üniversitesi
Ayfer Bartu Candan, Doç. Dr. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Ayşe Durakbaşa, Prof. Marmara Üniversitesi
Ayse Erzan, Emekli İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi
Ayşe Gözen, Dr. İstanbul Okan Üniversitesi
Ayşe Küçükkırca, Yrd. Doç. Mardin Artuklu Üniversitesi
Ayşe Öncü, Prof. Sabancı Üniversitesi
Ayşe Gül Altınay, Yrd. Doç. Sabancı Üniversitesi
Ayşen Uysal, Doç. Dr. 9 Eylül Üniversitesi
Banu Bargı, Dr. Kadir Has Üniversitesi
Barış Ünlü, Yrd. Doç. Ankara Üniversitesi
Barzoo Eliassi, Dr. Lund University
Bediz Yılmaz, Yrd. Doç. Mersin Universitesi
Begüm Başdaş, Dr. Bilgi Universitesi
Berna Güler Müftüoğlu, Yrd. Doç Marmara Üniversitesi
Biray Kolluoğlu, Doç. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Biriz Berksoy, Dr. Istanbul Üniversitesi
Burcu Yakut-Çakar, Yrd. Doç. Kocaeli Universitesi
Bülent Duru, Doç. Dr. Ankara Üniversitesi
Bülent Eken, Dr. Kadir Has Üniversitesi
Bülent Küçük, Yrd. Doç. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Büşra Ersanlı, Prof. Marmara Universitesi
Candan Badem, Yrd. Doç. Tunceli Universitesi
Cem Özatalay, Dr. Galatasaray Üniversitesi
Ceren Özselçuk, Yrd. Doç. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Cengiz Kırlı, Doç. Dr. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Cengiz Güneş, Dr. Open University, London
Ceyda Arslan, Dr. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Çağla Diner, Dr. Kadir Has Universitesi
Çiğdem Yazıcı, Yrd. Doç. Koç Üniversitesi
Derya Bayir, Dr. Queen Mary University of London.
Derya Fırat, Yrd. Doç. Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi
Dilek Hattatoğlu, Doç. Muğla Sıtkı Koçman Üniversitesi
Ebru Kayaalp, Yrd. Doç. İstanbul Şehir Üniversitesi
Elçin Aktoprak, Yrd. Doç. Ankara Üniversitesi
Elvan Ergut, Doç. Dr. Ortadoğu Teknik Üniversitesi
Emrah Ayna, Doç. Dr. Dicle Üniversitesi
Engin Sustam, Dr. Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
Erdem Yörük, Yrd. Doç. Koc Universitesi.
Erden Kosova, Dr.
Erhan Yalcındağ, Dr. Masaryk Üniversitesi
Esin Berktaş, Yrd. Doç. Mimar Sinan Üniversitesi
Esin Paça Cengiz, Dr. Royal Holloway University of London
Esra Mungan, Yrd. Doç. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Fatma Gök, Prof. Boğazici Universitesi
Fatmagül Berktay, Prof. İstanbul Üniversitesi
Ferdan Ergut, Doç. Dr. Ortadoğu Teknik Üniversitesi
Ferhat Kentel, Doç. Dr. İstanbul Şehir Üniversitesi
Ferhunde Özbay, Emekli. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Feryal Saygılıgil, Yrd. Doç. Arel Üniversitesi
Fikret Uyar, Dr. Dicle Üniversitesi
Fuat Ercan, Prof. Marmara Üniversitesi
Fuat Güzel, Prof. Dicle Üniversitesi
Gaye Yılmaz, Dr. Boğazici Üniversitesi
Gökçe Çataloluk, Yrd. Doç. Bilgi Üniversitesi
Gökçen Başaran İnce, Dr. Ege Üniversitesi
Gökçen Ertuğrul, Yrd. Doç. Muğla Universitesi
Gül Köksal, Yrd. Doç. Kocaeli Üniversitesi
Gülseren Adaklı, Doç Dr. Ankara Üniversitesi
Gülsüm Depeli, Yrd. Doç. Hacettepe Üniversitesi
Günay Göksu Özdoğan, Prof. Marmara Universitesi
Güven Gürkan Öztan, Yrd. Doç. Istanbul Universitesi
Hacer Ansal, Prof. Işik Universitesi
Hakan Koçak, Yrd. Doç. Kocaeli Universitesi
Haşim Cem Çelik, Dr. Celal Bayar Universitesi
Hisyar Özsoy, Dr. The University of Michigan-Flint
İbrahim Sirkeci, Prof. Regent`s College London
İnci Gökmen, Dr. Ortadoğu Teknik Üniversitesi
İpek Seyyalıoğlu, Dr. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Kuvvet Lordoğlu, Prof. Kocaeli Üniversitesi
L. Işıl Ünal, Prof. Ankara Üniversitesi
Latif Taş, Dr. Humboldt Universitesi
Leyla Neyzi, Prof. Sabancı Üniversitesi
Lütfiye Bozdağ, Yrd. Doç. Kemerburgaz Üniversitesi
M. Oğuz Sinemillioğlu, Yrd. Doç. Dicle Üniversitesi
Oğuz Arıcı, Yrd.Doç. Haliç Üniversitesi
Osman Aytar, Dr. Malardalen Üniversitesi
Mahmut Toğrul, Doç. Dr. Dicle Üniversitesi
Mahmut Mutman, Prof. Istanbul Sehir Universitesi
Mehmet Fatih Uslu, Yrd. Doç. İstanbul Şehir Üniversitesi
Mehmet Rauf Kesici, Yrd. Doç. Kocaeli Üniversitesi
Melek Göregenli, Prof. Ege Üniversitesi
Meltem Ahıska, Prof. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Meryem Koray, Prof. İstanbul Üniversitesi
Mesut Yeğen, Prof. Istanbul Sehir Universitesi
Metin Altıok, Doç. Dr. Mersin Üniversitesi
Metin Özuğurlu, Prof. Ankara Üniversitesi
Mine Gencel Bek, Prof. Ankara Üniversitesi
Murat Cemal Yalçıntan, Doç. Dr. Mimar Sinan Üniversitesi
Murat Koyuncu, Yrd. Doç. Boğazici Universitesi
Murat Paker, Yrd. Doç. İstanbul Bilgi Universitesi
Mustafa Altıntaş, Prof. Gazi Üniversitesi
Mustafa Durmuş, Doç. Gazi Üniversitesi
Mustafa Kemal Coşkun, Doç. Ankara Universitesi
Nazan Üstündağ, Yrd. Doç. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Nazim Hikmet Rochard Dikbas bilgi Universitesi
Nilgün Toker, Prof. Ege Üniversitesi
Nejla Kurul,Prof. Ankara Üniversitesi
Nesrin Sungur Çakmak, Prof. Marmara Üniversitesi
Nüket Esen, Prof. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Nurcan Özkaplan, Prof. Işık Üniversitesi
Nuri Ersoy, Doç. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Nükhet Sirman, Prof. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Oğuz Arıcı, Yrd. Doç. Haliç Üniversitesi
Olcay Akyıldız, Dr. Boğaziçi Universitesi
Onur Hamzaoğlu, Prof. Kocaeli Üniversitesi
Ozan Zeybek, Dr. Sabanci Universitesi
Özlem Albarak, Dr. Ankara Üniversitesi
Özlem Biner, Dr. Cambridge Universitesi
Özlem Özkan, Doç. Dr. Kocaeli Üniversitesi
Pakize Taylan, Dr. Dicle Universitesi
Prakash Shah, Dr. Queen Mary University of London
Pınar Bedirhanoğlu, Doç. Dr. Ortadoğu Teknik Üniversitesi
Rıdvan Şeşen, Prof. Dicle Üniversitesi
Saime Tuğrul, Dr. Bilgi Üniversitesi
Selim Temo, Yrd. Doç. Mardin Artukulu Üniversitesi
Sema Erder, Emekli Marmara Üniversitesi
Seda Altuğ, Dr. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Sefa Feza Arslan, Doç. Dr. Mimar Sinan Üniversitesi
Selime Güzelsarı, Yrd. Doç. Abant izzet Baysal Üniversitesi
Sema Erder, Emekli. Marmara Üniversitesi
Semih Bilgen, Prof. Ortadoğu Teknik Üniversitesi
Semra Somersan, Doç. Bilgi Üniversitesi
Serdar M. Değirmencioğlu, Prof. Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi
Serra Müderrisoglu, Doç. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Sevilay Çelenk, Doç. Dr. Ankara Üniversitesi
Sezai Temelli, Yrd. Doç. İstanbul Üniversitesi
Sibel Özbudun, Doç.
Sibel Yardımcı Doç. Mimar Sinan Universitesi
Ş. Gürçağ Tuna Yrd. Doç. Tunceli Üniversitesi
Şahika Yüksel, Prof. İstanbul Üniversitesi
Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Prof. İstanbul Üniversitesi
Şemsa Özar, Prof. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Tahsin Yeşildere, Prof. İstanbul Üniversitesi
Tuna Kuyucu, Yrd. Doç. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Umut Yıldırım, Dr. Sabancı Üniversitesi
Ülkü Guney, Yrd. Doç. Maltepe Üniveristesi
Üstün Bilgen Reinart Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi
Vahap Coşkun, Yrd. Doç. Dicle Üniversitesi
Vangelis Kechriotis, Yrd. Doç. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Veli Deniz, Prof. Kocaeli Üniversitesi
Veysel Tolan, Dr. Dicle Universitesi
Yahya Madra, Doç Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Yakın Ertürk, Emekli Ortadoğu Teknik Üniversitesi
Yasemin Özgün, Yrd. Doç. Anadolu Üniversitesi
Yavuz Aykan, Dr. Humboldt Universitesi
Yücel Demirer, Doç. Dr. Kocaeli Üniversitesi
Zafer Yenal, Doç. Dr. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Zafer Yörük, Yrd. Doç. İzmir Ekonomi Üniversitesi
Zelal Ekinci, Prof. Akdeniz Üniversitesi
Zeynep Kadirbeyoğlu, Yrd. Doç. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Zeynep, Kıvılcım. Doç. İstanbul Üniversitesi
Zeynep Sayın, Prof. İstanbul Üniversitesi
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Past is Present: Settler Colonialism Matters!

On 5-6 March 2011, the Palestine Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London will hold its seventh annual conference, "Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine." This year`s conference aims to understand Zionism as a settler colonial project which has, for more than a century, subjected Palestine and Palestinians to a structural and violent form of destruction, dispossession, land appropriation and erasure in the pursuit of a new Jewish Israeli society. By organizing this conference, we hope to reclaim and revive the settler colonial paradigm and to outline its potential to inform and guide political strategy and mobilization.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often described as unique and exceptional with little resemblance to other historical or ongoing colonial conflicts. Yet, for Zionism, like other settler colonial projects such as the British colonization of Ireland or European settlement of North America, South Africa or Australia, the imperative is to control the land and its resources -- and to displace the original inhabitants. Indeed, as conference keynote speaker Patrick Wolfe, one of the foremost scholars on settler colonialism and professor at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, argues, "the logic of this project, a sustained institutional tendency to eliminate the Indigenous population, informs a range of historical practices that might otherwise appear distinct--invasion is a structure not an event."[i]

Therefore, the classification of the Zionist movement as a settler colonial project, and the Israeli state as its manifestation, is not merely intended as a statement on the historical origins of Israel, nor as a rhetorical or polemical device. Rather, the aim is to highlight Zionism`s structural continuities and the ideology which informs Israeli policies and practices in Palestine and toward Palestinians everywhere. Thus, the Nakba -- whether viewed as a spontaneous, violent episode in war, or the implementation of a preconceived master plan -- should be understood as both the precondition for the creation of Israel and the logical outcome of Zionist settlement in Palestine.

Moreover, it is this same logic that sustains the continuation of the Nakba today. As remarked by Benny Morris, “had he [David Ben Gurion] carried out full expulsion--rather than partial--he would have stabilised the State of Israel for generations.”[ii] Yet, plagued by an “instability”--defined by the very existence of the Palestinian nation--Israel continues its daily state practices in its quest to fulfill Zionism’s logic to maximize the amount of land under its control with the minimum number of Palestinians on it. These practices take a painful array of manifestations: aerial and maritime bombardment, massacre and invasion, house demolitions, land theft, identity card confiscation, racist laws and loyalty tests, the wall, the siege on Gaza, cultural appropriation, and the dependence on willing (or unwilling) native collaboration and security arrangements, all with the continued support and backing of imperial power. 

Despite these enduring practices however, the settler colonial paradigm has largely fallen into disuse. As a paradigm, it once served as a primary ideological and political framework for all Palestinian political factions and trends, and informed the intellectual work of committed academics and revolutionary scholars, both Palestinians and Jews.

The conference thus asks where and why the settler colonial paradigm was lost, both in scholarship on Palestine and in politics; how do current analyses and theoretical trends that have arisen in its place address present and historical realities? While acknowledging the creativity of these new interpretations, we must nonetheless ask: when exactly did Palestinian natives find themselves in a "post-colonial" condition? When did the ongoing struggle over land become a "post-conflict" situation? When did Israel become a "post-Zionist" society? And when did the fortification of Palestinian ghettos and reservations become "state-building"?

In outlining settler colonialism as a central paradigm from which to understand Palestine, this conference re-invigorates it as a tool by which to analyze the present situation. In doing so, it contests solutions which accommodate Zionism, and more significantly, builds settler colonialism as a political analysis that can embolden and inform a strategy of active, mutual, and principled Palestinian alignment with the Arab struggle for self-determination, and indigenous struggles in the US, Latin America, Oceania, and elsewhere.

Such an alignment would expand the tools available to Palestinians and their solidarity movement, and reconnect the struggle to its own history of anti-colonial internationalism. At its core, this internationalism asserts that the Palestinian struggle against Zionist settler colonialism can only be won when it is embedded within, and empowered by, the broader Arab movement for emancipation and the indigenous, anti-racist and anti-colonial movement--from Arizona to Auckland.

SOAS Palestine Society invites everyone to join us at what promises to be a significant intervention in Palestine activism and scholarship.

For over 30 years, SOAS Palestine Society has heightened awareness and understanding of the Palestinian people, their rights, culture, and struggle for self-determination, amongst students, faculty, staff, and the broader public. SOAS Palestine society aims to continuously push the frontiers of discourse in an effort to make provocative arguments and to stimulate debate and organizing for justice in Palestine through relevant conferences, and events ranging from the intellectual and political impact of Edward Said`s life and work (2004), international law and the Palestine question (2005), the economy of Palestine and its occupation (2006), the one state (2007), 60 Years of Nakba, 60 Years of Resistance (2009), and most recently, the Left in Palestine (2010).

For more information on the SOAS Palestine Society 7th annual conference, Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine: www.soaspalsoc.org

SOAS Palestine Society Organizing Collective is a group of committed students that has undertaken to organize annual academic conferences on Palestine since 2003.

 

[i] Patrick Wolfe, Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology: The Politics and Poetics of an Ethnographic Event, Cassell, London, p. 163

[ii] Interview with Benny Morris, Survival of the Fittest, Haaretz, 9. January 2004, http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=5412