Statement from Concerned Boğaziçi University Faculty

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May 18, 2024 Turkey
Photo by Nazim Çapkin Photo by Nazim Çapkin

Statement from Concerned Boğaziçi University Faculty

By : Jadaliyya Reports

We, the faculty at Boğaziçi University, condemn the oppressive measures adopted by university administrations across the US against peaceful pro-Palestinian and anti-war protests held by students and faculty members on campuses. We observe, with regret and concern, that in many universities the protestors’ demands for a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment of their institutions from companies with ties to Israel are met with brutal force. Many administrators took the appalling decision to let police forces armed with guns, batons, and teargas on university grounds, resulting with the arrest of hundreds of students, and the manhandling and detainment of many others and faculty members. 

At Boğaziçi University, we are too familiar with the presence of armed forces on our campuses and the brutal suppression of non-violent protests. For over three years, Boğaziçi students and faculty have been resisting the take-over of the university by the government through the agency of imposed trustees and administrators, which has resulted in the undermining of academic freedom, leading to the repression of many protests by force, the imprisonment, ill-treatment, and disciplinary punishment of many students, as well as the dismissal, prosecution, or banishment of faculty members and administrative staff. We consider what we have been experiencing at Boğaziçi as part and parcel of a far-reaching 'politics' of violence, targeting academic freedom across the world. We are deeply concerned to see that the bans on freedom of expression imposed by political powers regarding the justified reactions of the international public against war crimes committed in Gaza have also expanded to threaten academic freedom. A significant number of cancelled scholarly seminars, the cases of silenced faculty and students, and lastly, the forced termination of an international conference on Palestine solidarity to be held in Germany two weeks ago, with speakers from abroad not even allowed to enter the country, all confirm the international dimension of this threat.

We condemn the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Israeli army in Gaza, with its use of Hamas’ October 7 massacre as pretext, as well as the Israeli state’s practices of occupation and apartheid in the rest of Palestine, and stand in solidarity with the students and faculty who are, in all forms of non-violent action, expressing their democratic will and standing against university administrations which threaten to suppress the right to academic freedom.

With these concerns, we urge university administrators around the world, first and foremost in Turkey, the US, and Germany, to retract police forces from campuses, and respect principles of institutional autonomy, shared governance and transparency in academic decision-making processes. We therefore call on university administrators to assume their fundamental responsibility of protecting freedom of expression on their campuses.

Signatories: 

  1. A. Sumru Özsoy (Professor, Emeritus, Linguistics)
  2. Ahmet Ersoy (Assoc. Professor, History)
  3. Ahu Ersözlü (Instructor, Retired, School of Foreign Languages)
  4. Ali Kerem Saysel (Professor, Retired, Environmental Sciences)
  5. Ali Rıza Kaylan (Professor, Emeritus, Industrial Engineering)
  6. Alp Eden (Professor, Retired, Mathematics)
  7. Alpar Sevgen (Professor, Retired, Physics)
  8. Arzu Çelik (Professor, Molecular Biology & Genetics)
  9. Aybek Korugan (Assoc. Professor, Industrial Engineering)
  10. Ayfer Bartu Candan (Assoc. Professor, Retired, Sociology)
  11. Ayşe Caner (Assoc. Professor, Educational Sciences)
  12. Ayşe Mumcu (Professor, Economics)
  13. Ayşın Baytan Ertüzün (Professor, Electrical-Electronic Engineering)
  14. Begüm Özkaynak (Professor, Economics)
  15. Belgin Tekçe (Professor, Retired, Sociology)
  16. Berna Kılınç (Professor, Philosophy)
  17. Betül Kırdar (Professor, Retired, Chemical Engineering)
  18. Betül Tanbay (Professor, Mathematics)
  19. Biray Kolluoğlu (Professor, Sociology)
  20. Burak Gürel (Professor, Mathematics)
  21. Burçay Erus (Assoc. Professor, Economics)
  22. Can Candan (Instructor, Western Languages and Literature)
  23. Cem Ersoy (Professor, Computer Engineering)
  24. Ceren Özselçuk (Assoc. Professor, Sociology)
  25. Cevza Sevgen (Professor, Retired, Western Languages and Literature)
  26. Cüneyt Argun Genç (Instructor, Tourism Management)
  27. Çiğdem Kafesçioğlu (Professor, History)
  28. Deniz Tahiroğlu (Assoc. Professor, Psychology)
  29. Derin Terzioğlu (Assoc. Professor, History)
  30. Dilek Çınar (Assoc. Professor, Retired, Political Science & International Relations)
  31. Dilek Doltaş (Professor, Retired, Western Languages and Literature)
  32. Emine Erktin (Professor, Mathematics and Natural Science Education)
  33. Emre Uğur (Assoc. Professor, Computer Engineering)
  34. Engin Ader (Assoc. Professor, Mathematics and Natural Science Education)
  35. Erhan Altunel (Instructor, Retired, Management)
  36. Erol Köroğlu (Assoc. Professor, Turkish Language and Literature)
  37. Ersan Demiralp (Professor, Physics)
  38. Esra Mungan (Assoc. Professor, Psychology)
  39. Eşref Eşkinat (Professor, Retired, Mechanical Engineering)
  40. Fatma Gök (Professor, Retired, Educational Sciences)
  41. Fikret Adaman (Professor, Economics)
  42. Gönenç Yücel (Assoc. Professor, Industrial Engineering)
  43. Gülcan Erçetin (Professor, Foreign Language Education)
  44. Güler Fişek (Professor, Emeritus, Psychology)
  45. Güzver Yıldıran (Professor, Retired, former Dean of the Faculty of Education)
  46. H. Birkan Yılmaz (Asst. Professor, Computer Engineering)
  47. H. Işıl Bozma (Professor, Electrical-Electronic Engineering)
  48. İbrahim Yaman (Assoc. Professor, Molecular Biology & Genetics)
  49. İlhan Or (Professor, Retired, Industrial Engineering)
  50. Irmak Ertör (Asst. Professor, Atatürk Institute)
  51. Kıvanç İnelmen (Professor, Retired, Tourism Management)
  52. Kıvanç Karaman (Assoc. Professor, Economics)
  53. Kuban Altınel (Professor, Industrial Engineering)
  54. Kutluğhan Soyubol (Asst. Professor, Sociology)
  55. Lale Akarun (Professor, Computer Engineering)
  56. Levent Yıldıran (Assoc. Professor, Economics)
  57. Mahmut Ekşioğlu (Professor, Industrial Engineering)
  58. Mert Arslanalp (Asst. Professor, Political Science & International Relations)
  59. Mine Eder (Professor, Political Science & International Relations)
  60. Mine Göl-Güven (Assoc. Professor, Preschool Education)
  61. Mine Nakipoğlu (Assoc. Professor, Linguistics)
  62. Murat Gülsoy (Professor, Retired, Biyomedikal Enstitüsü)
  63. Murat Koyuncu (Assoc. Professor, Economics)
  64. Nazım Çapkın (Instructor, School of Foreign Languages)
  65. Nazlı Somel (Asst. Professor, Educational Sciences)
  66. Neş’e Bilgin (Professor, Retired, Molecular Biology & Genetics)
  67. Nesrin Özören (Professor, Molecular Biology & Genetics)
  68. Nilüfer Zihnioğlu (Professor, Civil Engineering)
  69. Nüket Esen (Professor, Retired, Turkish Language and Literature)
  70. Nuri Ersoy (Professor, Mechanical Engineering)
  71. Olcay Akyıldız (Asst. Professor, Turkish Language and Literature)
  72. Orhan Yenigün (Professor, Retired, Environmental Sciences Institute)
  73. Özgün Konca (Assoc. Professor, Geophysics)
  74. Özlem Beyarslan (Assoc. Professor, Mathematics)
  75. Pınar Pektaş (Instructor, School of Foreign Languages)
  76. Reşit Canbeyli (Professor, Emeritus, Psychology)
  77. Rıfat Okçabol (Professor, Retired, Educational Sciences)
  78. Saygun Gökarıksel (Asst. Professor, Sociology)
  79. Seda Altuğ (Asst. Professor, Atatürk Institute)
  80. Seda Binbaşgil (Western Languages and Literature)
  81. Selim Deringil (Professor, Retired, History)
  82. Sema Sakarya (Professor, International Trade)
  83. Senem Yıldız (Assoc. Professor, Foreign Language Education)
  84. Serra Müderrisoğlu (Professor, Retired, Psychology)
  85. Sibel Tatar (Assoc. Professor, Foreign Language Education)
  86. Taner Bilgiç (Professor, Industrial Engineering)
  87. Tınaz Ekim (Professor, Industrial Engineering)
  88. Tolga Emre (Assoc. Professor, Molecular Biology & Genetics)
  89. Tolga Sütlü (Asst. Professor, former member of Molecular Biology & Genetics)
  90. Tuna Kuyucu (Assoc. Professor, Sociology)
  91. Tuna Tuğcu (Professor, Computer Engineering)
  92. Ümit Bilge (Professor, Industrial Engineering)
  93. Ünal Zenginobuz (Professor, Economics)
  94. Volkan Çidam (Asst. Professor, Political Science & International Relations)
  95. Yağmur Denizhan (Professor, Electrical-Electronic Engineering)
  96. Yaman Barlas (Professor, Retired, Industrial Engineering)
  97. Yasemin Sohtorik ilkmen (Asst. Professor, Psychology)
  98. Yavuz Akpınar (Professor, Computer and Educational Technology)
  99. Z. Hande Sart (Assoc. Professor, Educational Sciences)
  100. Zeynep Gambetti (Assoc. Professor, Retired, Political Science & International Relations)
  101. Zeynep Kadirbeyoğlu (Assoc. Professor, Retired, Political Science & International Relations)
  102. Zeynep Sabuncu (Assoc. Professor, Retired, Turkish Language and Literature)
  103. Zeynep Uysal (Assoc. Professor, Turkish Language and Literature)

 

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Jadaliyya Reports By :
Jadaliyya Reports

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