Generous gift

'U' should warily accept Turkey's offer

The Turkish government recently offered the University a $1 million grant to fund a professorship for Turkish studies at the University's Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies. With the University's only Turkish studies professor retiring in May, the administration needs to find a replacement. It is especially important for the University, which values cultural diversity, to find a new professor to promote a diverse curriculum. Without a replacement, Turkish studies at the University could easily become a relic of the past. That the Turkish government is offering to foot the bill makes this proposal quite appealing, as long as the Turkish government refrains from trying to influence the curriculum.

Critics of the proposal fear the Turkish government may be sponsoring the professorship to influence not only what is taught, but also how the Turkish government is portrayed. Of great concern, especially to Armenians, is the possibility that the Turkish government is seeking to revise history.

Specifically, they fear a potential conflict of interest could arise in teaching about Turkey's role in the massacre of more than one million Armenians between 1915 and 1917. In short, critics say the Turkish government is not only attempting to fund education on Turkish culture but also trying to influence the content of those studies.

But University officials insist the Turkish government will have no say in what is taught. The Armenian genocide will not be whitewashed, and the Turkish government will have no say in the selection of the professor, administrators said. Instead, the University will select the professor, who will decide on the material to be covered.

The University currently has two endowed chairs of Armenian studies, but no endowed chairs of Turkish studies. This proposal could actually improve the balance between Turkish and Armenian interests. Moreover, this issue can help the Armenian cause by exposing more people to both the region and its historical significance.

Indeed, as long as the Turkish government abstains from imposing conditions on what is taught, the University should accept this generous gift to help build a diverse curriculum. But the University must take all steps necessary to ensure that the Turkish government does not have any control over the courses taught by the professor. Were Turkey to have this control, the University would be hurting one of the most crucial values of academia - intellectual freedom.

01-22-99