Academics from Columbia University Call for Release of Rights Activist Kavala
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15 Columbia University faculty members have urge the Turkish Government to free the arrested rights advocate and Anadolu Kültür association's chairperson Osman Kavala Immediately and to drop all charges against him.
The statement of the 15 faculty members reads as follows:
As Columbia University faculty engaged in international scholarship and teaching, we are deeply concerned about the arrest of Osman Kavala, one of the most prominent Turkish public intellectuals and a tireless promoter of peaceful international collaboration. Osman Kavala is a colleague and a friend of Columbia of many years. Many of us have collaborated with him on various cultural projects, witnessing his generous leadership in bringing people and cultures together. We have had many occasions to witness Osman Kavala's important international reputation as well as his diligent and responsible efforts to represent Turkish culture abroad. Among the causes he championed closely were the cultural activities of Anadolu Kültür, the Depo Cultural Center and Diyarbakır Arts Center and Columbia faculty and students have had the privilege to benefit from these wonderful institutions. Osman Kavala has always displayed his commitment to tolerance and pluralism, to peace, democracy and rule of law. Kavala's belief that bringing people together to build peace and understanding through art and culture has been inspiring for our own work and for the education of our students.
Osman Kavala is widely admired nationally and internationally as a representative of the best in Turkish culture. We urge the Turkish government to free Osman Kavala immediately and to drop all charges against him.
Signees
Elazar Barkan (Director, Institute for the study of Human Rights)
Marianne Hirsch (Director, Center for the Study of Social Difference)
Jean Howard (Delacorte Professor of the Humanities)
Andreas Huyssen (Villard Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature)
Rashid Khalidi (Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies and Literature and Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies)
Alisa Solomon (Professor of Journalism)
Victoria de Grazia (Moore Collegiate Professor of History)
Jack Snyder (Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Relations)
Tonya L. Putnam (Associate Professor, Department of Political Science)
Sarah Cleveland (Louis Henkin Professor of Human and Constitutional Rights Law)
Andrew Nathan (Class of 1919, Professor of Political Science)
Elsa Stamatopoulou (Director, Ιndigenous Peoples' Rights Program)
Karen Van Dyck (Kimon A. Doukas Professor, Modern Greek Literature, Classics)
Joseph R. Slaughter (Associate Professor, Department of English and Comparative Literature)
Holger A. Klein (Professor of Art History and Archaeology)
What happened?
Anadolu Kültür Executive Board Chair, human rights advocate and businessperson Osman Kavala was taken into custody in the evening hours on October 18 at İstanbul Atatürk Airport upon his return from a meeting of a project planned to be realized in cooperation with Goethe Institute in Antep.
He was targeted by some pro-government newspapers following his detention.
Speaking at the weekly group meeting of his party, President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referred to Kavala as the "Soros of Turkey", mentioning his name and said:
"Some try to deflect the truth by means of praises attributed to him such as 'He was a good citizen, a media member, an NGO representative'. The identity of this figure called 'Soros of Turkey' has been uncovered. That was his name that came up in Consulate General [investigation]. All connections have surfaced. And there is the same person behind the incidents in Taksim. You see those people again behind funds transfer to certain places. Who are you trying to fool?"
His detention also sparked criticism on international level.
US thinker and professor in linguistics, Noam Chomsky, United States Department of State Spokesperson Heather Nauert and European Parliament Rapporteur for Turkey Kati Piri denounced Kavala's detention and demanded that he be released immediately.
On October 31, a group of 35 academics, writers and researchers coming together under the guidance of the European Network on Political Group Analysis Jean-François Bayart, addressed an open letter to President Erdoğan for Kavala's release.
About Osman Kavala
Kavala was born in Paris in 1957. He graduated from Department of Economy at Manchester University.
He has been working as executive at Kavala Group since 1982.
He participated in the foundation of Turkey's one of the most prominent publishing houses, İletişim Publications, with Murat Belge.
He served as member of administrative boards of business institutions and NGOs such as Turkey-Poland Business Council, Turkey-Greece Business Council, and Center For Democracy in Southeast Europe.
Kavala is a member of Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) Administrative Board, Open Society Institute Consulting Board, and supporter of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, History Foundation and Diyarbakır Culture House. (HK/DG)