Targeted by Erdoğan, Prof. Buğra says, ‘Turkey needs peace’
* Photo: Burcu Karakaş/DW
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Targeted by ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Emeritus Prof. Ayşe Buğra has answered the questions of İsmail Küçükkaya at Fox TV morning news.
140 economists also released a written statement today (February 9) and expressed their solidarity and support for Ayşe Buğra.
CLICK - Akşener slams Erdoğan for targeting Prof. Buğra
Amid the ongoing protests against the appointed rector of Boğaziçi University, Erdoğan made a speech on February 5 and targeted Buğra, an academic at Boğaziçi and the spouse of Osman Kavala, a businessperson and a rights defender who has been arrested for more than three years.
"The wife of the person who is called Osman Kavala and is the representative of [George] Soros is among these provocateurs," he said.
'How beautifully they talk about their problems'
Referring to the above remarks, Buğra has briefly said:
"This is not something that we are used to. The wife of I don't know whom... This is not right. These are hurtful things. I have never met Erdoğan. I retired in 2017. I am working online in pandemic conditions. I go to school rarely.
"When my friends and students started the resistance, they were standing there in their gowns in silence. I joined only one of them. I went there and stood with them once. I don't have a gown, I don't wear it. I wore it that day.
"Provocation is a very harsh word. It shows not knowing the people in question, not knowing those students. The students of Boğaziçi are very smart and hardworking students who made efforts, come there, knowing what they do, and care about their school very much.
"They want the university to remain as it is, they don't want any external intervention. How beautifully they are talking about their problems. I think it is disrespectful for students, above all else.
"Our homeland needs peace, we cannot continue by constantly fighting. It is really unfair for our homeland. My expectation is peace and I, of course, want justice."
Economists express support for Ayşe BuğraReleasing a written statement today (February 9), 140 economists expressed their solidarity with Emeritus Prof. Ayşe Buğra. "Dear Ayşe Buğra, we are honored and proud that we are you colleagues. With our wishes for friendship and solidarity..." read the statement of the economists. The statement is signed by: Abdullah Akyüz, Ahmet Arif Eren, Ahmet Atıl Aşıcı, Ahmet Haşim Köse, Ahmet İnsel, Ahmet Muhtar Çakmak, Ahmet Öncü, Ahmet Şahinöz, Ali Bilge, Ali Cevat Taşıran, Anıl Aba, Anıl Duman, Arzu Akkoyunlu Wigley, Atilla Özsever, Attila Yeşilada, Ayça Akarçay, Aydın Fındıkçı, Aydın Ördek, Ayfer Akşit Hortaçsu, Ayfer Karayel, Ayhan Bülent Toptaş, Ayla Oğuş Binatlı, Aynur Ataklı, Ayşe Ertuğrul, Aziz Konukman, Bahaettin Gülgör, Batur Talu, Begüm Özkaynak, Benan Eres, Besim Bülent Bali, Bilge Öztürk Göktuna, Bilsay Kuruç, Bülent Gültekin, Cafer Bakırhan, Cahit Yılmaz, Cengiz Aktar, Cengiz Arın, Çağatay Anadol, Dani Rodrik, Daron Acemoğlu, Değer Eryar, Dicle Akar Bilgin, Emin Köksal, Emre Deliveli, Erdal Özmen, Erinç Yeldan, Erol Taymaz, Ertuğrul Tokdemir, Etyen Mahçupyan, Ezgi Ünsal, Ferhat Emil, Fikret Görün, Fikret Şenses, Fuat Ercan, Galip Yalman, Gökçe Uysal, Hacer Ansal, Hakan Ercan, Hakan Mıhçı, Hakan N.V. Kırklar, Halil Baha Karabudak, Halil Berktay, Haluk Kasnakoğlu, Haluk Levent, Haluk Rıza Tabuk, Hayri Kozanoğlu, Hüseyin Özel, Işıl Aydoslu, İbrahim Tutar, İrem Zeyneloğlu, İzak Atiyas, İzzettin Önder, Kağan Parmaksız, Kamil Yılmaz, Korkut Boratav, Lerzan Özkale, Levent Yıldıran, Leyla Çapan, M. Aykut Attar, Mehmet Besimoğlu, Mehmet Emin Karaaslan, Mehmet Rasgelener, Mehmet Seçinti, Mehmet Taner Yiğit, Mehmet Teoman Pamukçu, Mehmet Türkay, Meriç Köyatası, Muammer Kaymak, Muhteşem Kaynak, Murat Aksoy, Murat Koyuncu, Murat Özünay, Murat Sururi Özbülbül, Mustafa Gültekin, Mustafa Sönmez, Mustafa Ulus, Necip Çakır, Nesrin Nas, Nesrin Sungur Çakmak, Nezih Güner, Nilgün Erdem, Nurettin Çivi, Oğuz Oyan, Oktar Türel, Onur Yeni, Osman Zaim, Öner Günçavdı, Özdem İşsever, Özgür Narin, Özgür Orhangazi, Pelin Selek, Refet Gürkaynak, Renginar Dayangaç, Saime Kayam, Selim Soydemir, Selin Bayar, Semra Somersan, Serdar Sayan, Serdar Şahinkaya, Seven Ağır, Sevinç Mıhçı, Seyfettin Gürsel, Seyhan Erdoğdu, Sezgin Polat, Suat Gürsoy, Şebnem Burnaz, Şükrü Binay, Taylan Erten, Temuçin Tüzecan, Tunç Tayanç, Ufuk Uras, Ulaş B. Cihan, Ümit Özlale, Ümit Şenesen, Vecdi Seviğ, Yaprak Uras, Yücel Candemir, Zehra Kasnakoğlu. |
About Emeritus Prof. Ayşe BuğraAyşe Buğra completed her Ph.D. in economics at McGill University. She is professor of political economy at the Ataturk Institute of Modern Turkish History of Bogazici University in Istanbul and is the co-founder and the current director of the research centre Social Policy Forum at the same university. Her current research interests include comparative social policy and gender relations, international development and business history. Her last book is entitled New Capitalism in Turkey: The Relationship between Politics, Religion and Business (co-authored with Osman Savaşkan, Edward Elgar publishing 2014). Her other books in English include State and Business in Modern Turkey (State University of New York Press 1994), State, Market and Organizational Form (co-edited with Behlül Üsdiken, Walter de Gruyter 1997), Reading Karl Polanyi for the 21st Century: Market Economy as a Political Project (co-edited with Kaan Ağartan, Palgrave MacMillan 2007), and Trajectories of Female Employment in the Mediterranean (co-edited with Yalçın Özkan, Palgrave MacMillan 2013). Her articles in the area of social policy in general and female employment patterns in particular have been published in such journals as Social Politics, European Journal of Social Policy, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Development and Change, Middle East Studies, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research and New Perspectives on Turkey. Ayşe Buğra is the translator of Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation into Turkish. |
(EMK/SD)