Campagna-Kerven Lecture on Modern Turkey April 19, 2017

Fatma Müge Göçek

Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies

University of Michigan

"Minorities in Turkey: from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic"

At the Castle, 225 Bay State Road, Boston

Boston University

6:00 P.M., April 19, 2017

"The Turkish Complex" is the topic of the 2015 Campagna-Kerven Lecture on Modern Turkey at Boston University

Reserve your seat for the 20th annual CKLS lecture.

This years lecture is delivered by Professor Jenny White from the Department of Anthropology at Boston University.  Those who follow Turkey will be well-acquainted with her writings (and her blog Kamil Pasha), not least her most recent book: Muslim Natonalism and the New Turks.

“On Memory and Democracy: Skeletons in the Turkish Closet”--The 2014 Campagna-Kerven Lecture on Modern Turkey

As some of you will recall, in April Ayşe Kadıoğlu, Dean Faculty at Sabanci University gave a thoughtful and gutsy talk at Boston University.  The streaming video of the lecture is also available on the CKLS website (where you may also find eight other previous lectures.

Soli Ozel's Campagna-Kerven Lecture at Boston University: "A New Honeymoon: Turkish-American Relations in the Age of Arab Awakening, NATO Weakening, and the Asian Pivot"

Professor Soli Ozel is well known to many readers.  He is a faculty member at Kadir Haz University in Istanbul.  His April 24, 2013, lecture was lively and insightful, occasionally irreverent lecture and certainly of the moment.  The talk is now available at the CKLS website.  (Unfortunately, the streaming video was delayed by a series of technical glitches; a few tweaks remain to be done.)

Why are Turks so angry?

"It is the grandiosity of power and the increasingly punitive state that has pushed people onto the streets and keeps them hanging from the windows of their homes every day, banging pots into the night. Even the revered father of the traditional family is expected to care about all this. But Prime Minister Erdogan, after insulting the protesters and refusing to acknowledge that there was any problem whatsoever, instead left for Morocco to attend a trade meeting."

Jenny White's further insights may be found on her highly readable blog, Kamil Pasha.

Press freedom in Turkey has been impaired and threatened by the actions of PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government

The Committee to Protect Journalists has published a report detailing the jailing and intimidation of journalists.  The full report, Turkey's Press Freedom Crisis, is downloadable here.

Israeli government continues to block the sale of Boeing AWACS to Turkey

The sale is part of a $1.6 billion Boeing contract with Turkey.  

Lenore Martin's reflection on Turkish-Syrian-Iranian relations is a reminder that among the reverberations of the upheaval in Syria may be a realignment on the Kurdish question

While often unnoticed, even in usually informed commentary, there have been periodic indicators of Iranian-Turkish cooperation vis-a-vis Kurdish nationalist insurgents.  As Lenore Martin notes, both Syria and Iran might seek to stoke the Kurdish insurgency against Turkey as a riposte to Ankara's recent hostility to the al-Asad regime.

Stephen Kinzer in the New York Review of Books on Turkey, Erdogan's recent electoral triumph and the mood of unease in the country

Kinzer is a colleague at Boston University and he will be presenting the Campagna-Kerven Lecture in April 2012.  Check here periodically for news about the lecture.

Very useful piece on Hatay (Alexandretta), where 11,000 Syrians have taken refuge

ELif Shafak's 2011 Campagna-Kerven Lecture: streaming video

CK Website.

The Campagna-Kerven Lecture Series on Modern Turkey

The lecture is today, [was] May 3, 2011.  The speaker is Elif Shafak, the renowned novelist.

Facebook page for the lecture.

Also noteworthy for readers who care about and follow Turkey, BU colleague Jenny White's Kamil Pasha receives a well-deserved plug.  White's blog, cited here periodically, provides well-crafted insight into Turkish culture, society and politics.

Reminder: The Campagna-Kerven Lecture on Modern Turkey featuring Elif Shafak is May 3 at 4:30 P.M.

Or on Facebook.

Mark your calendar for May 3, 2011, when Elif Shafak will deliver Boston University's annual Campagna-Kerven lecture on modern Turkey

The lecture archive is also available.

Jenny White: Can Egypt be Turkey?

Also see KamilPasha for commentary on Turkey.

Elif Shafak is delivering the 2010-11 Campagna-Kerven Lecture on Modern Turkey this spring at Boston University

[The date is May 3, 2011]

She has a thoughtful OPED in the NYTimes, "Finally, Turkey Looks East."  Readers will know that Shafak is a gifted novelist.

"When Hosni Mubarak finally stepped down, there was widespread celebration in Turkey. It’s a topsy-turvy world. The Europe we loved and admired for so long has looked down on Turkey, but the Middle East we ignored is suddenly looking up to us as a force to be reckoned with. Now there is much talk of Turkey serving as a model for a new Egypt.
Considering all this, it has been rather disconcerting to hear politicians and talking heads in the United States speak about Turkey as if it is in thrall to radical Islamists. Even President Obama has described our country as an “Islamic” democracy. But what does it mean to be an Islamic democracy?
"Turkey defies clichés. Turkish society is a debating society, with some people passionately in favor of the governing Justice and Development Party and some passionately against it. At a recent event I heard an academic applaud the government for curtailing the power of the military, while a journalist criticized it for conducting groundless trials against army officers and restricting the press."

More details on the upcoming lecture will be released soon.

Facebook page.

Turkish report on Mavi Marmara incident

Turkish poll examines Middle Eastern attitudes about Turkey as a model

Sampling of relevant Turkish perspectives on Erkan Saka's blog.

[Added February 7, 2011: more on Turkey's perspectives and particularly economic interests.]

The Mavi Marmara assault

Hugh Pope offers a thoughtful commentary on the UN Human Rights Commission's September 23, 2010, report on the Mavi Marmara incident.  While Israeli officials were at pains to dismiss the report out of hand, Pope shows that the report reflects a careful weighing of evidence.  The report disproves key aspects of Israel's account, including the allegation that the passengers were armed with firearms.  The report establishes that two of those killed on board were documenting the boarding with video equipment, including Furkan Dogan, a U.S. citizen.  (Dogan was shot twice in the head at close range.)

The report also addresses the intentions of the passengers, some of whom were intent on repelling an Israeli assault rather than meekly submit to being boarded in international waters.

The Human Rights Council finds that the Israeli blockade of Gaza constitutes collective punishment of Gazan civilians.

Reflecting on this episode, one wonders about the dubious strategic judgment of Israeli decision-makers who decided to assault a Turkish flagged vessel in international waters, particularly given the importance of Israel's relationship with Turkey.

Speaking of Turkey, a snapshot from a recent session with the Turkish Foreign Minister is available at Kamil Pasha.

Israel's deadly fiasco at sea condemned but what next for the U.S. and its "eternal ally"?

Even with overnight arm twisting by the U.S. the U.N. Security Council "Presidential Statement" leaves no doubt that Israel is being condemned for its seizure--in international waters--of the Gaza-bound flotilla.

Middle East Report Online provides by far the most valuable brief on the flotilla and Israel's response.

Notwithstanding Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's claim that the Israeli commandos were armed only with paint guns and side arms, Israel has once again demonstrated its penchant for disproportionate force and its contempt for international law. While the "Free Gaza" flotilla has been prevented from reaching Gaza with its cargo of humanitarian supplies, the political purpose of the convoy has been largely achieved. Israel (with Egyptian complicity) blockades Gaza from sea, land and air, and has done so since 2006 when Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections. Israel's commando fiasco at sea draws world's attention to the blockade and its humanitarian consequences for the 1.5 million civilians of Gaza (Israeli officials claim the situation in Gaza is good). Here is the relevant paragraph from the Presidential Statement:

The Security Council stresses that the situation in Gaza is not sustainable. The Council re-emphasizes the importance of the full implementation of Resolutions 1850 and 1860. In that context, it reiterates its grave concern at the humanitarian situation in Gaza and stresses the need for sustained and regular flow of goods and people to Gaza as well as unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza.

This is moment when Barack Obama's diplomatic mettle will be put to the test. Will he seize the moment to deliver a stern wake-up call to the "eternal ally"? Even Israel's Mossad head, Meir Dagan, recognizes that Israel is becoming a burden for the U.S. Will Obama?