Committee on Academic Freedom Letters

Following are the contents of letters the Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) has sent to heads of state or government officials in the past months. CAF letters are also printed in the MESA Newsletter. Click on date to access the letter.

The Committee for Academic Freedom encourages all MESA members and others to help keep it informed of human rights violations affecting academics in the Middle East and North Africa. If you learn of human rights violations, please contact a member of the CAF or the MESA Secretariat, supplying as much information as possible.

July 22, 2008

HRH Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud
Minister of Interior
Ministry of Interior
PO Box 2933
Riyadh 11134
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
via fax 011-966-1-403-1185

Your Highness:

On 30 May 2008 the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association wrote to you to express our deep concern over the arrest and detention of Professor Matrouk Al-Faleh of the Department of Political Science at King Saud University. Professor Al-Faleh was arrested sometime after leaving his house on May 19, 2008.

Since sending that letter, additional, disturbing information about Prof. Al-Faleh’s situation has come to our attention. Although formal charges have still not been brought against him, we have learned that he has been imprisoned in Al-Hair prison, a maximum security facility. It is also our understanding that he has now been officially dismissed from his position as professor of political science with no possibility of reinstatement. Moreover, to underline his insistence on having a lawyer present during any interrogation, Prof. Faleh has undertaken a hunger strike.

As we noted in our previous letter, MESA's Committee on Academic Freedom takes particular interest in Professor Al-Faleh’s case because he was selected as the recipient of MESA's academic freedom award in November 2004. MESA, which promotes scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa and has more than 2800 members worldwide, is the preeminent organization in the field. It is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere. In bestowing its academic freedom award upon Professor Al-Faleh, MESA cited him for "his courageous and principled stance. He and his colleagues have made a brave stand in favor of freedom of speech and academic freedom, and they deserve our support and our admiration."

We are, therefore, particularly disturbed that Professor Al-Faleh has not been processed by the Saudi judicial system, that, in the absence of such processing, he has apparently been dismissed from his university post, and that he is currently on a hunger strike.
Thus, once again we urge you to accord Professor Al-Faleh his full rights to express himself, both politically and academically--the same rights that he advocates so forcefully for others. We also ask, on behalf of our organization, that you ensure that Professor Al-Faleh be granted access to a lawyer, be released promptly or be charged with a criminal offense, and if he is charged, that he be tried before a court that meets international fair trial standards.

We look forward to receiving your response.

Respectfully,
Mervat F. Hatem
MESA President
Professor of Political Science, Howard University

cc:
His Excellency Adel A. Al-Jubeir, Saudi Ambassador to the United States
King Saud University, Department of Political Science

July 14, 2008

Dr. Hany Mahfouz Helal
Minister of Higher Education
101 Kasr al-Aini St.
Fax: +20-2-794-1005
hhela@mailer.eun.eg
hhela@link.net

His Excellency Nabil Fahmy
Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Fax: 202-244-4319

Your Excellencies,

I write on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) to express our deep concern about the delay of the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education in replying to a US Fulbright Commission recommendation for a grant to an American graduate student and the rejection of that recommendation without a clearly stated reason.

The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has more than 2800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.

We understand that there is a formal agreement or a protocol which regulates relations between the US Fulbright Commission and Egypt. Our intent is not to question its contents. Our goal is, rather, to draw your attention to the need for greater transparency regarding the research topics the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education deems appropriate for Fulbright scholars and about how quickly it will reply to recommendations made by the US Fulbright Commission. It is in the best interests of both the US and Egypt that US students and scholars learn about Egyptian society, culture, and politics. It is also in the best interests of both countries that students and scholars be encouraged to study Arabic through extended stays in Egypt.

Because the application process for grants like the Fulbright is so long and time-consuming, it is essential that those involved in its administration act quickly. Students and scholars must apply for such research fellowships a full year before it is to take effect. When they are notified that their application has met with favor, they need time to arrange for all the practical details that a prolonged absence requires. And if the application does not meet with favor, they need time to make alternative arrangements.
 
 The most recent case, involving an American graduate student from the University of Arizona, is especially problematic. First, the refusal came so late that the student was unable to arrange for an alternative research opportunity. Second, the reason given for the refusal was not clear.
As this case and others like it become better known, there will be two immediate consequences neither of which is desirable. First, US students and scholars will increasingly turn away from attempting to study Egypt. Second, they will decide to seek funding opportunities that are more reliable than those offered by the Fulbright Commission. Not only will scholarship in the US suffer, but so too will scholarship in Egypt. Indeed, the whole purpose of the Fulbright program risks being thwarted by the continuation of these practices.

 With all due respect and prompted by the high regard in which we hold the cultural and scholarly traditions of Egypt, we urge the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education to implement clear and objective standards for judging research projects and to communicate them to the US Fulbright Commission. We also urge the Ministry to respond quickly and efficiently to the recommendations submitted by the US Fulbright Commission.
 
We look forward to your response.

Sincerely yours,
Amy Newhall
Executive Director
MESA

cc:
Her Excellency Margaret Scobey.
United States Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt
Fax: +20-2-797-3200

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
U.S. Dept. of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Fax: 202-647-2283

Dr. Bruce Lohof
Executive Director, Binational Fulbright Commission in Egypt
21 Amer St., Messaha, Dokki, 12311, Giza, Egypt
Fax: + 202 2795 7893

June 9, 2008
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20520

via fax: 202-647-2283

Dear Secretary Rice:

I write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our concern regarding the State Department’s failure to respond in a timely fashion to the visa request of Professor Mahmoud Abossowa of Fatah University in Tripoli, Libya. As a result, Professor Abossowa was unable to attend a conference to which he had been invited at Harvard University, 16-18 May 2008.
 
The Middle East Studies Association of North American (MESA) was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has more than 2800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.
Professor Abossowa was invited by the Islamic Legal Studies Program of Harvard University Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts to participate in an international conference on Waqf (pious endowments). Despite applying for his visa using the online visa request form in December 2007, well in advance of the May 2008 conference, and despite traveling from Tripoli, Libya to Tunis, Tunisia, for an interview with U.S. consular officials on 11 April 2008, no decision was made on his visa. Telephone calls and letters from Harvard’s Islamic Legal Studies Program also failed to elicit a decision. The result was the regrettable absence of Prof. Abossowa from this international conference.

MESA is committed to fostering the free exchange of knowledge as a human right and to inhibit infringements on that right by government restrictions on scholars. The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provide the principal standards by which human rights violations are identified today. Those rights include the right to education and work, freedom of movement and residence, and freedom of association and assembly. Infringements include governmental refusal to allow scholars to conduct scholarly research, publish their findings, deliver academic lectures, and travel to international scholarly meetings. We believe that the failure to respond to the visa requests of academics—treatment which effectively constitutes a denial of the visa—represents just such an infringement.

Had the failure of the State Department to respond to Prof. Abossowa’s visa request been an isolated incident, we would still have voiced our concern. Unfortunately, however, the treatment suffered by Prof. Abossowa is not unique, but rather an experience to which numerous Arab and/or Muslim scholars and students have been subject in recent years.  Such treatment is profoundly counter-productive to the stated aims of our national policy. If the United States truly seeks a better understanding of and relationship with the Arab/Muslim world, it must be open to receiving and hosting a range of scholars from the region.
   
We urge you to look into the State Department’s failure to respond in the case of Prof. Abossowa. More generally, we ask that you review a process of visa application and processing which has been shown repeatedly in recent years seriously and negatively to interfere with the higher education community’s capacity to fulfill our core mission and which represents a serious threat to academic freedom.

We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,

Mervat F. Hatem
MESA President
Professor of Political Science, Howard University

cc: Ambassador Robert F. Godec
Consul Sean Cooper

Reply Received June 30, 2008

June 18, 2008
United States Department of State
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Dr. Hatem:

This is in response to your letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice regarding the pending nonimmigrant visa application of Mr. Mahmoud Abossawa. We appreciate your patience in awaiting a reply.

We reviewed Department records and learned that the security clearance for Mr. Abossawa remains pending. The U.S. Department of State acts as a coordinator in our federal government’s efforts to endure that all mandated security clearances are performed on each visa applicant. When processing visa applications, U.S. Embassies must scrupulously carry out all legal and procedural requirements for the protection and security of the United States.

We are working with the relevant agencies to complete all clearance requests as expeditiously as possible. As you can appreciate, security clearances are of critical importance to our national security. Each case is unique and warrants the full scrutiny of the agencies involved in the process for which a set time frame is not appropriate. When the clearance process is concluded, the Embassy will notify Mr. Abossawa.

We regret that Mr. Abossawa was unable to receive a visa in time to attend the conference held by the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard University; however, the clearance process cannot be accelerated or waived.

We want to assure you that we are fully cognizant of the importance of international participation in programs and conferences at U.S. colleges and universities. The Department of State recognizes the significant academic, cross-cultural, and economic benefits that international students and scholars bring to our country, and are committed to fostering academic and scientific exchanges worldwide. We have made, and will continue to make, enormous efforts to ensure that foreign scholars are able to travel to the United States to study and work in a timely manner.

We hope this information was helpful.

Sincerely,
Jane Burt-Lynn
Chief
Public Inquiries Division
Visa Service

June 9, 2008
LTG Robert M. Williams, Commandant
U.S. Army War College
Carlisle Barracks, PA 17013
Robert.m.williams@us.army.mil

Dear Gen. Williams:

On behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), I am writing to express our concern about complaints by Dr. Sherifa Zuhur, Research Professor of Islamic and Regional Studies at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College (USAWC) and a member of MESA, that she has been treated by USAWC authorities in ways that may violate USAWC’s stated policy with regard to academic freedom, as well as the standards of USAWC’s accrediting organization, the Middle States Association of Colleges.

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has more than 2800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to defending academic freedom, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.

USAWC policy states that “academic freedom for its faculty and students is fundamental and essential to the health of the academic institution.” However, Professor Zuhur has reported to us that, in apparent violation of this policy, she has been subjected to censorship and harassment because of views she has expressed or which have been imputed to her. Among other things, Professor Zuhur reports that she has had one or more scheduled lectures at USAWC cancelled at the last minute, apparently because some USAWC officials disagreed with her opinions about, and analyses of, U.S. policy in the Middle East, and also that she has been harassed for allegedly failing to comply with USAWC’s procedures for prior review of publications and public statements – procedures that she believes have been applied arbitrarily and inconsistently and that may in any case not conform to USAWC’s avowed commitment to academic freedom. In these circumstances it is not surprising that Professor Zuhur believes that her employment contract at USAWC is not being renewed because of her views and beliefs, rather than because of her job performance.

Professor Zuhur should not be made to feel that she is being subjected to an atmosphere of harassment and intimidation that makes it impossible for her to do her job properly and that denies USAWC students and faculty, and the wider public, the full benefit of her expertise. I therefore urge you to investigate Professor Zuhur’s complaints and ensure that all USAWC personnel comply fully and consistently with its policies on academic freedom and on prior review of publications and public remarks by faculty.

Sincerely,

Mervat F. Hatem
MESA President
Professor of Political Science, Howard University

cc: Sherifa Zuhur

June 3, 2008
Meir Sheetrit
Minister of Interior of Israel
2 Kaplan Street, Kiryat Ben-Gurion
Israel

via fax 011-972-2-670-1628

Dear Minister Sheetrit:

I write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern regarding your decision on 23 May 2008 to deny Professor Norman Finkelstein entry into Israel on what appears to be retribution for his critical academic examination of Israeli government policy, including the ongoing occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. We urge you to reverse this decision, which represents a serious threat to future scholarship and academic freedom.

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in its field, the Association publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has more than 2800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.

Professor Finkelstein, a US citizen, is a well-known scholar who has published extensively with the top academic presses in his field. In the early morning of 23 May 2008, he arrived at Ben Gurion airport en route to friends in the West Bank city of Hebron. Over the next 24 hours the professor was detained, questioned by Shin Bet officials, and finally forced to board a plane bound for the United States.  Upon his deportation, the authorities informed him that for “security” reasons he would be barred from entering Israel (and the Occupied Territories) for at least ten years, and that he should contact the Ministry of Interior should he wish to inquire about the precise reason for the ban issued against him. Since then, however, government officials have offered two different explanations for their decision. The first, reported by Ha’aretz, was ‘suspicions involving hostile elements in Lebanon,’ referring to Professor Finkelstein’s well-publicized meetings with Hizbullah officials in Lebanon in January 2008. The second reason, reported in the Jerusalem Post, was the professor’s ‘outspoken anti-Zionist opinions and for his harsh criticisms of Israel.”

We understand that Israeli law allows you to deny entry to any non-citizen you choose. But the absence of a consistent explanation, and one that may even constitute punishment for a professional scholarly critique, is troubling on several grounds.  First, you have failed to explain how Professor Finkelstein poses an actual threat to state security as a result of his meetings with Hizbullah officials.  The timing of your decision raises a second concern. According to Professor Finkelstein, this is the first time in 20 years (and at least 16 visits) that he has had trouble entering the country. His most recent book, Beyond Chutzpah (University of California Press, 2007), investigates Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories, focusing in particular on Israel’s human rights record since 1967. The unprecedented nature of his deportation can easily lead people to wonder whether there is a connection between your decision and the analysis presented in this book.

If you have evidence that Professor Finkelstein poses a security risk to the State of Israel, we urge you to make it available so as to reassure the Israeli public—who are accustomed to open debates about the state of their country—that untoward political pressures did not affect your decision.  We also ask that you clarify whether you intend to uphold the 10-year ban against Professor Finkelstein: what would happen to him should he attempt to visit Israel before 2018?

Denying qualified scholars entry into the country because of their political beliefs strikes at the core of academic freedom. This is why we write to protest the barring of Professor Finkelstein and to request that the Israeli government reverse the action immediately.

Finally, we would like to request clarification from the Ministry about the implications of your decision regarding Professor Finkelstein for the membership of the Middle East Studies Association. Can MESA members, who may or may not oppose various aspects of Israeli government policy, expect similar treatment when entering your country?

Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Mervat F. Hatem
MESA President
Professor of Political Science, Howard University

cc:    The Honorable Condoleeza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State
        Ambassador Richard H. Jones, U.S. Ambassador to Israel
        Ambassador Daniel Ayalon, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S.

June 2, 2008

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Re: Prevention of students from Gaza from studying abroad

Dear Secretary Rice,

We are writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch, the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, and the Committee for Human Rights of the American Anthropological Association to welcome the State Department's decision to reinstate the Fulbright grants that had been awarded for the coming academic year to Palestinian students living in the Gaza Strip. We appreciated in particular your own objection to the department’s earlier decision to “redirect” the awards because of Israel’s blanket refusal to allow students in Gaza to travel abroad, or to the West Bank, to continue their education.

We remain concerned, however, about the sequence of decisions and the official statements that accompanied them. According to The New York Times, seven Palestinian students received letters on May 29, 2008, informing them that the grants awarded to them earlier for study in the United States had been “redirected” because Israeli authorities refused them permission to leave the Gaza Strip. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said that because the students “could not get visas,” the State Department decided to transfer the awards to students in the West Bank “rather than lose them for this year.”

On May 30, following disclosure of the State Department’s actions, department spokesman Casey said that US officials “have been actively speaking to Israeli officials here in Washington” and “noted the secretary’s personal concern about this issue.” When queried further, Casey said, “I think the conversations that have been held today indicated that the Israelis appreciated and understood our concerns about this issue.”

These statements, and the June 1 decision to reinstate the grants, do not explain why the State Department, over strenuous objections from the Fulbright program, “redirected” them in the first place. This action displayed a disturbing readiness on the part of the United States to actively support Israel’s policy of strict closure on the Gaza Strip, a policy that has caused grave harm to the population there and constitutes collective punishment, a serious violation of international law. Rather than accommodate Israel’s unlawful restrictions, the United States should vigorously challenge them at every opportunity.

We also want to call your attention to the fact that Israel’s refusal to allow students to resume or begin university studies outside of Gaza has affected many more students than these Fulbright awardees. We urge you to take this opportunity to call on Israel to allow all students in Gaza, except where there are legitimate security concerns specific to particular individuals, to exercise their right to freedom of movement and access to education. At a minimum, the United States should clearly and publicly disassociate itself from Israel’s policy of collective punishment as it affects students seeking to study abroad.

Both Human Rights Watch and the Middle East Studies Association have over the past year called on Israel to remove blanket restrictions that have prevented hundreds of Palestinian students from leaving the Gaza Strip to study abroad. In November 2007, Human Rights Watch called on Israel to cease its arbitrary denial of exit permits to some 670 students in Gaza from pursuing higher studies abroad. The Middle East Studies Association also raised this matter in letters to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. By late 2007, the number of students and dependents in Gaza seeking to study abroad had risen to approximately 1,100. Israel allowed fewer than half of those to leave Gaza for Egypt and Jordan for exit to third countries, and hundreds remained cut off from the possibility of studying abroad. According to the Israeli human rights organization Gisha, the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, between one and two thousand students in Gaza seek to leave to study abroad each year, but since January 13 of this year none had been permitted to do so. Israel has also insisted that the Rafah crossing on Gaza’s border with Egypt remain closed; during the several days in late January when the border was breached, Egypt allowed only persons who already had visas to third countries to proceed to Cairo.

Gaza’s students need to have access to higher education abroad. Opportunities in the Gaza Strip are currently quite limited. Many degrees are not at all available in the four universities there. For instance, there are no undergraduate degrees in languages other than Arabic, English, and French, and no master’s degrees in law, journalism, and information technology. Doctoral degrees are not offered at all. Israel rarely permits professors and lecturers from outside Gaza to enter to teach there.

Israel’s restrictions on Gaza students seeking to study abroad are part of its more comprehensive and increasingly severe policy of closure. Since June 2007 Israel has enforced a strict blockade of the Gaza Strip, preventing, with very few exceptions, people and goods from entering or leaving the territory. Israeli officials say that the strict closure policy is intended to suppress rocket and other attacks by Palestinian armed groups, many of which hit civilian areas in Israel in violation of the international humanitarian law prohibition of attacks that target or cause indiscriminate harm to civilians. The strict closure’s impact on the ability of the armed groups to carry out these attacks is highly debatable. What is clear is that the policy has had a grave impact on the access of Gaza’s civilian population to essential goods and services, including education, and violates Israel’s obligation under the Fourth Geneva Convention on occupations to protect the rights of Palestinians to, among other things, freedom of movement and to secure access to education.

International humanitarian law and human rights law permits restrictions on freedom of movement for security reasons, but the restrictions must have a clear legal basis, be limited to what is necessary, and be proportionate to the threat. Israeli restrictions clearly exceed these norms, and constitute collective punishment, a serious violation of international law.

With this in mind, we strongly urge you to use this opportunity to call on Israel to cease those restrictions on the movement of people and goods into and out of the Gaza Strip that constitute collective punishment, including restrictions that prevent Gaza residents from studying abroad, and to disassociate the United States from any inference of support for those policies.

Sincerely,

Sarah Leah Whitson
Executive Director
Middle East and North Africa division
Human Rights Watch

Amy Newhall
Executive Director
Middle East Studies Association of North America

Setha Low
President
American Anthropological Association

May 30, 2008

HRH Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud
Minister of Interior
Ministry of Interior
PO Box 2933
Riyadh 11134
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

via fax 011-966-1-403-1185

Your Highness:

I write to you on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our deep concern over the arrest and detention of Professor Matrook Al-Faleh of the Department of Political Science at King Saud University.  Professor Al-Faleh was taken some time after leaving his house on May 19, 2008.  His family and associates report that his arrest has not been explained, nor have they been informed of any charges against him.  Professor Al-Faleh has been arrested and tried in the past for expressing his political opinions and advocating reforms in Saudi Arabia, though he was finally pardoned. 

The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) was founded in1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has more than 2800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.

MESA's Committee on Academic Freedom takes particular interest in Professor Al-Faleh's case because he was awarded MESA's academic freedom award in November 2004.  At that time, MESA cited him for “his courageous and principled stance” and further proclaimed that “he and his colleagues have made a brave stand in favor of freedom of speech and academic freedom, and they deserve our support and our admiration.”

We urge you to accord Professor Al-Faleh his full rights to express himself both politically and academically-the same rights that he advocates so forcefully for others.  We also ask, on behalf of our organization, that you ensure that Professor Al-Faleh be granted access to a lawyer, be released promptly or be charged with a criminal offense, and if he is charged, that he be tried before a court that meets international fair trial standards.  
 
We look forward to your response.

Respectfully,

Mervat Hatem
MESA President
Professor of Political Science, Howard University

cc: His Excellency Adel A. Al-Jubeir, Saudi Ambassador to the United States
King Saud University, Department of Political Science

May 27, 2008

Prime Minister Recep Tayyıp Erdoğan
Office of the Prime Minister
Başbakanlık
06573 Ankara
Turkey

Via facsimile +90 312 417 0476

Dear Prime Minister Erdoğan:

I write to you on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF)in order to express our alarm and grave concern over the forced resignation of Professor Donald Quataert from Chairmanship of the board of governors of the Institute of Turkish Studies (ITS), a not-for-profit educational foundation which overseas the distribution of the proceeds from a $3 million endowment by the Turkish government to support Turkish studies in the United States. Dr. Quataert, an eminent scholar in the field of Ottoman and Turkish studies, is professor of history at Binghamton University, State University of New York and served as Chairman of the ITS board of governors from 2001 until December 13, 2006.

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has more than 2800 members worldwide.  MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.

 The matter of the Turkish government’s interference in the academic freedom of one of our most respected academic colleagues was publicly raised at the annual business meeting of the Turkish Studies Association (TSA) held in Montréal in November 2007 in conjunction with MESA’s annual conference. TSA was founded in 1971 to promote high standards of scholarship and instruction in Turkish and Ottoman studies.  The Association publishes the scholarly Turkish Studies Association Journal, and has more than 500 members internationally. In addition to the Turkish Studies Association Journal, the Association’s activities include sponsorship of Turkish language prizes, awards for scholarly books and articles, graduate papers, and research scholarships. TSA members at the November business meeting were scandalized by the news of Professor Quataert’s mistreatment at the hands of the Institute of Turkish Studies and asked the TSA board to initiate action.  The TSA Board referred the case to CAF and expressed backing for its response.

Dr. Quataert’s relinquishment of his position came after he refused to accede to the request of ITS’s honorary chairman, Ambassador Nebi Şensoy, that he issue a retraction of a scholarly book review he wrote about the killings of Armenians (1915-1918) in the Ottoman Empire.  In that article, Professor Quataert urged academicians in Ottoman and Turkish studies to eschew polemical biases and undertake research based on the use of Ottoman-language source materials and produce scholarship according to the highest professional standards.  It is indisputable that most of the scholarship to date fails to adhere to these standards and as such serves neither the field of Ottoman-Turkish studies nor the interests of the Republic of Turkey and its citizens.

We are enormously concerned that unnamed high officials in Ankara felt it was inappropriate for Professor Quataert to continue as chairman of the board of governors and threatened to revoke the funding for the ITS if he did not publicly retract statements made in his review or separate himself from the Chairmanship of the ITS.  The ITS mission statement declares that it is “an independent, tax exempt organization and does not seek to influence legislation nor advocate particular policies or agendas.” The reputation and integrity of the ITS as a non-political institution funding scholarly projects that meet stringent academic criteria is blackened when there is government interference in and blatant disregard for the principle of academic freedom.  A clear message is sent to those who would apply for ITS funds or participate in ITS activities that the board does not stand behind the principle of academic freedom, and that politics can vitiate professional standards.  It would be a travesty for an association that seeks to provide a more positive image of Turkey and promote the development of Turkish studies in the United States to be viewed in such a counterproductive and negative light. Furthermore the attitude towards Dr. Quataert, sharply contrasts with your government’s recent call to leave the debate regarding the events of 1915 to the independent study and judgment of scholars.

We ask that your government take all necessary steps to press for Professor Quataert’s reinstatement as chairman of the board of governors of ITS, and that the funds for the ITS endowment be placed in an irrevocable trust immune from political interference and infringement of academic freedom.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.  We look forward to your positive response.

Sincerely,

Mervat Hatem
MESA President

cc:
Amb. Nabi Şensoy, ITS Honorary Chairman and Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the US
Amb. W. Robert Pearson, ret., Chairman
David C. Cuthell, ITS Executive Director
Walter Denny, ITS Secretary-Treasurer, Professor of Art History, University of Massachusetts

ITS MEMBERS OF THE BOARD
Halil Inalcik, Professor of History, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey and Professor Emeritus of History, The University of Chicago
Heath W. Lowry, Ataturk Professor of Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies, Princeton University
Justin McCarthy, Professor of History, University of Louisville
Mike M. Mustafoğlu, Trans Global Financial Corporation
Dr. Kenan Şahin, TIAX LL Corporation
Jenny B. White, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Boston University
Birol Yeşilada, Professor of Political Science, Portland State University

ITS ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Sarah G. Moment Atis, Professor of Turkish Language and Literature; Chair, Middle East Studies Program, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Carter V. Findley, Professor of History, Ohio State University
Fatma Müge Göçek, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Michigan
Avigdor Levy, Professor of History, Brandeis University
Gülru Necipoğlu-Kafadar, Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Art, Harvard University
Sylvia Önder, Visiting Assistant Professor of Turkish, Georgetown University
Esra Özyurek, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego
Leslie Peirce, Professor of History, New York University
Kemal Silay, Professor of Central Eurasian Studies; Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies Chair Professor; Director, Turkish Studies Program, Indiana University

President John J. DeGioia, Georgetown University
Andras J. Riedlmayer, TSA President; Bibliographer in Islamic Art and Architecture, Aga Khan Program in Islamic Architecture at Harvard University
Donald Quataert, Professor, Binghamton University, SUNY

Reply from Nabi Şensoy
Embassy of Turkey
Washington, DC

June 30, 2008
Professor Mervat Hatem
President
Middle East Studies Association
Tucson, Arizona

Dear Professor Hatem,
With your letter addressed to H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, dated May 27, 2008, you insinuate that I, as the Honorary Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Turkish Studies (ITS), may have improperly influenced Professor Donald Quataert to resign from the board’s Chair on December 13, 2006. I regret to observe that you apparently felt no need to consult or contact me before writing this letter, which would have permitted me to correct some of your grave misperceptions. The quantity of half truths contained in your letter also suggests that the ITS Board of Governors had not been contacted either.

I provide the following corrections so that you can fully appreciate whether allusions to any influence I may have exerted over Prof. Quataert to urge his resignation from the ITS board’s Chair and from the board itself are substantiated or not.

The ITS was founded in 1983.Accodring to its By-Laws, the primary objective of the Institute is to increase knowledge of Turkey, its people, culture and history among the people of the United States by supporting educational research, scholarship and publications in the field of Turkish studies. The efforts and works of the ITS have positively contributed to the development of relations between Turkey and the United States primarily in the academic field.

The ITS’s affairs are managed by its Board of Governors. The Board of Governors is composed of Turkish and American academics and businessmen known for their expertise in their fields. The Board of Governors meets periodically and acts by a simple majority. All decisions, including electing of the chairman are taken by the Board accordingly. As befits a purely academic institution, the ITS and its Board of Governors seek to operate transparently and objectively. It would be a clear violation of academic freedom for the Turkish Government to seek to influence members of the board to act in a certain way, and equally for members of the Board to bow to such pressure.
As the Honorary Chairman of the ITS Board, my one and only right is to attend the meetings of the Board of Governors and to offer, if need be, my views on matters related to its governance. I lack the prerogative to vote and have no authority to appoint or remove any board member or approve or reject any grant requests.

Contrary to recent assertions, I did not call Prof. Quataert to condemn him for a book review he had written in which he opined on the events of 1915. Rather, following the publication of that book review I called Prof. Quataert to enquire into the reason for his change of opinion on that historical dispute, as Mr. Quataert had previously not considered that the events of 1915 constituted genocide. Prof. Quataert replied that the book review was being misunderstood and that his opinion had not changed. I then suggested to Prof. Quataert that if he was being misunderstood, that he should naturally correct this misunderstanding in writing. I expressly added that whatever decision Prof. Quataert would make, both on correcting the misunderstanding and on his interpretation of history, I would respect it. Professor Quataert did not act on my suggestion.
I add that, contrary to what has been claimed, during my conversation with Prof. Quataert, absolutely no mention either of the ITS’ funding or of the subject of Prof. Quataert’s continued service on the ITS board was made.

With  a letter dated December 13, 2006, the then Chairman of the Board of Directors, Prof. Donald Quataert informed the members of the Board of Governors, including me as Honorary Chairman, of his decision to resign from the ITS Chairmanship.

With the attached copy of the letter addressed to Prof. Quataert, dated January 13, 2007, I expressed my regret regarding his decision, underlined his important contributions to the ITS and mentioned my sincere wish to maintain our close friendship in the future.

Following Prof. Quataert’s resignation, Mr Kenan Sahin, a prominent Turkish –American academic and businessman, and then Ambassador Robert Pearson, a former US Ambassador to Turkey, were elected to Chair the ITS by the Board of Governors. Any future Chairman will be independently by the Board as well.

It I obvious that claims contained in your letter insinuating that my actions had forced Professor Quataert to resign from the Chair of the ITS are not only unfounded and misleading, but they also run contrary to the facts. Neither the Turkish government nor I have ever placed any pressure upon the ITS, for such interference would violate the principle of academic freedom, which we earnestly uphold. The Turkish Government and I will be the first to defend ITS from any such pressure. Our past practice stands in testimony to this fact.

I hope this helps you gain a better understanding of the matter.

Finally, as you have published Prof. Quataert’s letter on your website, fairness would demand that my letter also be given an equal public forum.

Sincerely,
Nabi Şensoy

Copy of letter from Nabi Sensoy to Pr. Donald Quataert

January 18, 2007

Professor Donald Quataert
Department of History
Binghamton University
State University of New York

Dear Professor,
Thank you for your letter of December 13, 2006.
I am sorry to learn about your decision to resign as Chairman of the Board of Governors and as Member of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Turkish Studies.

It is indeed very hard on us to lose a distinguished member of the TIS who has been a major intellectual force in support of a better understanding of Turkey.

I believe that the Institute, under your chairmanship has played an important role and maintained its position as a distinguished institution.
Your friendship over the years has been a great asset. It will be an honor to maintain this close friendship.

I look forward to welcoming you here at the Turkish Embassy on future occasions.
With my best wishes, I remain.

Yours sincerely,
Nabi Şensoy

1 May 2008

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
3 Kaplan St., Qiryat Ben-Gurion
PO Box 187
91919 Jerusalem
Israel

via fax: 972-2-6512631

Dear Prime Minister Olmert:

I write to you on behalf of the Middle East Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) to express our concern about the continued restriction of movement and travel imposed by the government of Israel on Palestinian students from Gaza. Though a shuttle service for transporting the students via the Erez Crossing and then on to Egypt or Jordan, for exit to third countries, was put into effect in late 2007 it proved to be no more than an ad hoc arrangement that facilitated the passage of fewer than half of the 730 students who need to reach universities abroad. While waiting for the shuttle service to begin or for subsequent shuttles to operate, many of the students in Gaza missed the start of the academic year at universities around the world. Some lost their places for the entire year, as well as their scholarships, because they did not arrive at their campuses in time. It is impossible to estimate how many students, faced with the intensifying closure policy, lost hope and gave up altogether on trying to pursue their studies abroad.

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has more than 2700 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.

On October 19, 2007, we addressed you about this matter and now wish to reiterate our expectation that the government of Israel will establish a reliable policy that will allow Palestinian students so wishing to pursue their academic studies abroad.

In particular, we wish to bring to your attention the cases of ten Palestinian students who have been prevented from leaving Gaza to pursue their academic studies in the U.S. Belgium, U.K., Germany, and Jordan:

1.   Mariam Ashour, 18 years old, received a scholarship from the Hope Fund to study business administration at Columbia College in South Carolina.

2.   Yahia Abu Hashem, 18 years old, received a scholarship from the Hope Fund to study computer information technology at Roanoke College in Virginia.

3.   Wajdi Halabi has been accepted to complete a PhD in computer science at Vrije University in Brussels, supported by the European fellowship program Erasmus Mundus.

4.   Wissam Abuajwa has been admitted to an MA program in environmental studies at a British university.

5.   Nibal Nayef is the recipient of a scholarship from the German scholarship program DAAD to study at the Technical University in Kaiserslautern, Germany for a PhD in computer science.

6.   Basheer Obaid is the recipient of a scholarship from the German DAAD program to study at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany for a PhD in infrastructure engineering.

7.   Ahmed al Hayak has been accepted to a Master’s program at the Herder-Institute of Leipzig University in Germany, and is a recipient of a scholarship of the German DAAD program.

8.   Fatma Shbair is a recipient of a scholarship from the German DAAD program for a Master’s degree in computer science at the New York Institute of Technology in Amman, Jordan.

9.   Samah Hamouda is a recipient of a scholarship from the German DAAD program for a Master’s degree in industrial engineering at the University of Jordan in Amman.

10. Ahmed Ghorab is a recipient of a scholarship from the German DAAD program for a Master’s degree in computer engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Amman, Jordan.

Israel has the responsibility to ensure the Right to Education as enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which it ratified in 1991. The ongoing disruption of Palestinian education constitutes a violation of a basic human right that will have long-term and negative political, economic, and humanitarian consequences for all peoples involved.  We call on the Israeli government to create a reliable policy that will allow the ten students mentioned above as well as the hundreds of other registered Gaza university students to travel to their educational institutions abroad.

Sincerely,
Mervat Hatem
MESA President

cc:   Minister of Defense Ehud Barak 

April 1, 2008

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
c/o H.E. Javad Zarif
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

Fax : 212-867-7086 ;  +98 251 7774 2228
info@leader.ir; istiftaa@wilayah.org

Your Excellency:

I am writing on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of North America to protest the 9 March 2008 attack by special forces police against a lawful meeting of a student-organized seminar at Shiraz University, as well as the ongoing harassment of students by university officials.

The Middle East Studies Association of North American (MESA) was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has more than 27 00 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.

The seminar at Shiraz University was sponsored by the Islamic Students Association, which applied for and received a permit to hold the event.  Speakers from outside were invited.  According to eyewitness reports, special forces police took over the seminar hall.  Some blocked the speakers and would-be attendees from entering while others beat the student organizers.  Six students were arrested and, when two other students inquired about their status, they also were arrested.  Seven other students were detained at demonstrations before and after this event. 

The police attack on the seminar appears to be an attempt to crush student protests at Shiraz University more generally.  Actions by local law enforcement agents occurred in tandem with similar university actions.  Students have demonstrated in favor of hiring qualified faculty, holding new elections for the Student Council, and improving living conditions in women’s dormitories.  Prior to the seminar’s disruption, university officials had engaged in months of harassment of students that included interference in student elections:  in December 2007, university administrators disqualified 108 students running for election to the Student Council.  Student demonstrators were roughly treated by university security guards and, according to an eyewitness, at least one female demonstrator was beaten.  Witnesses also reported harassment of students’ families by intelligence officials.  The editors of four student publications were prosecuted in the local court for printing "propaganda against the system."  The students responded to these repressive measures with a series of sit-ins and with calls for the resignation of the university chancellor, Mohammad Hadi Sadeghi.   According to our information, as many as 3000 students participated at various times in the sit-ins, which also were supported by members of the university faculty and staff, and which were due to culminate the day after the seminar was attacked. 

Although all the students who were detained are reported to be free on bail, most say they were beaten during their incarceration; and seminar organizers report having been kept in solitary confinement.  After the campus was closed for the Norouz holiday, we learned that the university’s disciplinary committee suspended ten of them for up to two semesters.  Four were punished for having participated in demonstrations in December, and the other six for their participation in the sit-ins. 

Assaults on student assemblies and the disruption of lawful university events by university and police officials constitute a severe abuse of academic freedom.  We ask that you investigate the repression of, and violence committed against, students at Shiraz University by the leaders of their institution and by the local officials who have cooperated with university administrators in beating, incarcerating, and judicially pursuing students for exercising their rights of free speech and lawful assembly.  We also urge you to support our request that the university administration respond to students’ reasonable demands that their elections be permitted to go on without interference and that their living and learning conditions be brought up to acceptable standards .  We look forward to hearing from you with regard to the actions you take in this regard.

Sincerely,
Mervat Hatem
MESA President

March 10, 2008
Ismail Haniya, Prime Minister
Caretaker Government of the Palestinian Authority
Fax:  202-974-6278

Dear Prime Minister:
 
We are writing to urge you to use your authority to halt the activities of armed groups that have been engaged in indiscriminate rocket fire against Israeli towns bordering Gaza.  We are particularly distressed at the 27 February 2008 bombardment of Sderot, during which around 50 rockets hit the western Negev, with one of them slamming into Sapir College near Sderot and killing Roni Yechiah, a 47-year-old student. According to press reports, your own organization Hamas claimed responsibility for that attack.  What we are asking is that you hold this group accountable for its actions and that you make clear to all that such behavior is criminal and will be prosecuted.
 
The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has more than 2700 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.

Rockets fired from Gaza have been falling on Israel for some seven years. According to Human Rights Watch, Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza and Israeli artillery attacks on populated areas in northern Gaza have been responsible for "hundreds of civilian casualties since September 2005 and constitute serious violations of the laws of war."  To endanger the lives of civilians, including students, is not an acceptable response no matter how severe the provocation. 

In the past we have on numerous occasions conveyed to the Israeli government our concerns regarding Israeli attacks on Palestinian students, teachers and educational facilities as well as regarding the deleterious effects of the continuing occupation. Most recently, on 6 June 2007 we wrote to express our grave concern about the impact on Palestinian educational institutions of Israel’s military bombing campaigns and incursions in the Palestinian territories, the abduction of Minister of Education Dr.Nasser Eddin Shaer (who was subsequently released), as well as the crippling impact of international sanctions against the Hamas-led government. 

As the leader of the Palestinian government in effective control of the Gaza strip, we ask that you exercise your authority and that of the government of Gaza to halt attacks that put civilians and civilian institutions, including students and universities, at risk. 

Sincerely,
Mervat Hatem
MESA President

March 7, 2008
Dr. Ze’ev Tsahor, President
Sapir Academic College
D.N. Hof Ashkelon 79165
Sderot, Israel

Dear President Tsahor,

I am writing on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) regarding the case of Nizar Hassan, a well-known filmmaker and professor at Sapir College, who, we understand, is to be dismissed from his post for comments he made on 8 November 2007 to an army reserve student who had come to class in uniform and carrying a weapon.  
 
The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the International Journal of Middle E