Let it be the turn of mathematics now to lay out our troubles.
What has Boğaziçi University been going through for five years now? Why has an institution long described as “the jewel of the country” been so treacherously sabotaged for half a decade? It is hard for those observing the developments concerning the university from afar to fully grasp the vindictive, destructive mindset that had the university at its crosshair for these past five years. After all, a university is supposed to be a space for full expression of freedom even if this spirit has not been internalized by all human beings.
Ours is a strange and difficult era in which lies and propaganda march hand in hand to their peak. An era dominated by people who know no method other than silencing or buying off would be opponents, dissenters or simple critics.
A sickening period when those who take over our offices and research centers, then send us fountain pens as gifts for the New Year. This illness does not begin at Boğaziçi, nor does it end there, of course. Every individual who refuses to live like a sheep, every institution that refuses to join a submissive herd, gets its share.
Why mathematics? Because of its special status in our lives. Because everyone—educated or not—knows its importance. Because even if you don’t understand it, you don’t doubt its correctness. Because its relationship with truth cannot be corrupted. Because lies and propaganda cannot penetrate it. Because mathematics cannot be silenced nor bought off. Because a piece of chalk suffices for it to move on. During the most brutal years of the Soviet era, when arts and social sciences could not breathe and composing music could be a crime, families steered their children toward mathematics—so that they could keep thinking, keep breathing. Even in a closed-off and isolated world, mathematics emerged from oppressive eras with the least damage.
A manager unable to restrain their political views and beholden to a fragile personality can cause great harm to a university—especially if they wield state power. Those watching from afar are also under the influence of their political views and personal biases. Mathematics, being free of political views or personal biases may help one see the great damage inflicted on Boğaziçi University and the dishonorable intentions that steer them.
A blunt example of destruction is the İstanbul Center for Mathematical Sciences (IMBM). Founded in 2006 on the Boğaziçi University campus through the collaboration of several İstanbul mathematics departments, IMBM was built thanks to a conditional donation from one of the country’s oldest and largest construction companies. The conditional donation was unanimously approved by the University Executive Board; a protocol was signed between the donor and the rector; and the entire construction was carried out by the company’s own staff, without imposing the slightest financial burden on the university. And by “construction,” don’t imagine today’s scale: we’re talking about a two-story building occupying 66 square meters, with one seminar room, three offices, and two guest rooms in the attic. As I said, mathematics does not demand much expense. A blackboard, chalk, and a few people thinking together can contribute to the longest story humanity has ever created.
For 16 years, the IMBM building hosted mathematical events organized by mathematicians from all over Turkey and their international visitors. For 16 years, seminars, regular themed meetings, international workshops, conferences, specialized courses, doctoral and advanced summer/winter schools were held there; more than a thousand talks were delivered. IMBM provided a modest yet peaceful environment with accessible and clear bureaucracy, enabling local, national, and international researchers to gather to discuss mathematics and do their research. It hosted for four years a doctoral network funded by TÜBİTAK involving 60 researchers and PhD students from 15 universities and served as a meeting venue for mathematical societies such as the Turkish Mathematical Society (TMD) and the European Mathematical Society (EMS).
It was audited through annual activity reports by an International Scientific Advisory Committee consisting of five distinguished mathematicians. These reports were regularly shared with the Boğaziçi University Rectorship and all components of IMBM. IMBM became part of the “Mathematics European Research Infrastructure” project, which included twenty of Europe’s most important centers and institutes, and was accepted as an associate member of the committee formed by these institutions (ERCOM).
All over the world, hosting such centers brings universities prestige and international visibility. IMBM’s presence at Boğaziçi University increased its visibility. And yet, after all this history, labor, and achievements, the Center’s “reward” or “thanks” came on the morning of May 24, 2022, when the locks of the IMBM building were changed and the building was taken away from the mathematicians—disregarding the decision of the University Executive Board, setting aside the conditional donation, and disregarding mathematics itself.
Mathematicians are organized worldwide and stay informed about one another. What happened to IMBM echoed across the globe. Letters addressed to the appointed rector poured in. “There is no other center like this between Budapest and Tel Aviv—don’t do this!” they said. The machine of lies and propaganda went to work here as well. The response to a letter from the 400-year-old French Academy of Sciences sums up the situation like a caricature: the appointed rector had an exceptionally polished letter written in French. And what did it say? That no mathematical center had been closed in Boğaziçi University, simply because such a center did not exist! Upon taking office the rector had discovered that “some mathematicians” had been “occupying” a building for 16 years, and that the necessary investigations were underway! Apparently, those investigations still have not been completed—or perhaps it has finally been understood that this was not an “occupied” building but a space and environment created by mathematicians who took care of everything down to the toilet paper! Mathematicians continue to demand their building. Are they succeeding? For now, unfortunately, no. Those whose souls are filled with an insatiable desire to do harm and are full of malice did not stop with the IMBM building; now they have attacked the mathematics department itself. They have set their sights on our offices, already shared for years by at least two people in each. The assault, which began in the middle of the fall semester, has, as I am writing this article, forcibly removed six of our colleagues from their workspaces—two of them professors who have completed forty years at the university.
They are right! Where lies and propaganda reign, mathematics must be destroyed!
But as we say in Turkish, you cannot plaster the sun with mud. Without mathematics, there can be no university.
Do not worry about IMBM’s fate! Just as imprisoning people cannot stop them from thinking, stealing space cannot stop the practice of mathematics. From topology days to logic days and to operator algebra conferences, IMBM continues its activities wherever it manages to find a blackboard. But in the meantime, Boğaziçi loses, İstanbul loses, Turkey loses.
Those who couldn't stop mathematics won't be able to bring down our university either. As a youngster said shouting in the street: "Everything will be better!" Because everything has to be better! (BT/VC/VK)
