Open Letter by the Middle East Studies Association
to the Armenian Ambassador to the United States
in Support of Yektan Turkyilmaz
June 23, 2005
Source: http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/CAFMENAletters.htm#June_23,_2005
June 23, 2005
H.E. Tatoul Markarian
Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the United States
2225 R Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
By facsimile 202-319-2982
Your Excellency:
I write to you on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the
Middle East Studies Association of North America in order to express
our grave concern about the current condition and whereabouts of Mr.
Yektan Turkyilmaz. Mr. Turkyilmaz is a Ph. D. candidate at Duke
University and has been a member in good standing of the Middle East
Studies Association. Mr. Turkyilmaz is being held by the Armenian
security services at an undisclosed location in Yerevan.
The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) comprises
2600 academics worldwide who teach and conduct research on the Middle
East and North Africa, and is the preeminent professional association
in the field. The association publishes the International Journal of
Middle East Studies, and is committed to ensuring respect for the
principles of academic freedom and freedom of expression in the region
and in connection with the study of the Middle East and North
Africa. Numbered among our members are some of the world’s
experts on Armenian history, culture, literature and genocide studies,
and the Society for Armenian Studies is an affiliated organization.
At the time of his detention Mr. Turkyilmaz was in Armenia conducting
research on the history of Eastern Anatolia during the interwar
period. He has conducted research in the country before without
incident. Upon seeking to leave the country after finishing his
work on this trip, he was seized on suspicion of smuggling old books
and/or documents and questioned on his archival work and political
beliefs. He has been held incommunicado well over 72 hours and we
are unaware of any charges against him.
We ask on behalf of our organization that you use your good offices to
investigate the specific issues involved and act to ensure that Mr.
Turkyilmaz is treated fairly and provided all legal rights due
him. We strongly urge you, at a minimum and urgently, to obtain
information about Mr. Turkyilmaz’s whereabouts and conditions of
detention, and convey that information to his family. We are
willing to act as a conduit for that information.
As evidence of our commitment to academic freedom, MESA recently sent a
strongly worded statement to Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey decrying
actions by members of his government that led to the cancellation of a
conference organized by Turkish academics on the Armenian Genocide of
1915 and other events of the period 1915-1923. Our actions derive
from our larger belief that scholarship, free exchange of ideas and
international collegiality can help lessen political tensions between
states and increase mutual respect and understanding amongst
peoples. With your help, what may merely be a misunderstanding
can be kept from turning into an international political issue of value
to none.
Sincerely,
Ali Banuazizi
President, Middle East Studies Association
Professor, Boston College