TURKEY: TEMPEST IN ACADEMIC TEAPOT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 001451

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: TEMPEST IN ACADEMIC TEAPOT

Classified By: Political Counselor Daniel J. O'Grady, reasons 1.4 (b),(
d)


1. (C) Summary and comment: President Abdullah Gul's August
5 appointment of 21 university rectors brought little joy to
AKP's opponents. As one of the first high-profile selection
procedures following the ruling Justice and Development
Party's (AKP) narrow escape from being banned for
anti-secularist activities, the appointment list was closely
scrutinized for signs of partisanship. More than 30
academics from several state universities resigned August 6
to protest Gul's alleged use of political criteria in
appointing the new rectors; they and other AKP critics charge
Gul rejected top candidates selected in peer elections for
those who support AKP's political positions. AKP MPs
maintain Gul acted legally and consistent with past
practices. The selection process, instituted in 1992, is
widely seen as political and flawed, though few expect
meaningful reform given entrenched interests in maintaining
the status quo. With rectors for 17 new universities
appointed last year and an additional 23 new rectors due to
be appointed soon, the selection process offers Gul numerous
opportunities to influence Turkey's academic leadership
profile. If Gul's choices turn out to be based on merit,
they will help ease fears he intends to use appointments to
pack academia with pro-Islam rectors. But AKP critics will
be hard to convince. End summary and comment.

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University Rectors Appointments Engender Protests
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2. (U) President Gul appointed rectors for 21 state
universities to four-year terms August 5, in a closely
watched process that generated accusations of partisanship
and calls for the politicized selection process to be
overhauled. Under a 1992 law, rectors are appointed through
a three-phase system, with each university's faculty voting
for six top candidates, who are then submitted to Turkey's
Higher Education Board (YOK),Gazi University Dean of
Communications Korkmaz Alemdar told us. YOK submits a
short-list to the president composed of any three of the top
six names; the president may appoint any of these three as
rector. This year, YOK did not include five candidates who
topped the peer vote in the short-list to the president,
Alemdar explained. Gul chose the highest vote-getter from
the YOK short-lists in 17 instances and the second highest in
four cases. The overall result was that 12 of the 21 new
rectors received the highest number of peer votes.


3. (U) Turkish media focused on alleged links between
candidates' political views and the ultimate selections.
"Hurriyet" columnist Oktay Eksi noted that YOK failed to
include the top vote-getter at Akdeniz University, Professor
Mustafa Akaydin, an outspoken opponent of AKP's initiative to
lift the headscarf ban at universities during his term as
Inter-University Board President. "I am paying for the
headscarf decision," Akaydin told the press. "There was no
logical reason to leave me out." Eksi alleged Gul selected
September 9 University second-place finisher Mehmet Fuzun
because his brother is an AKP MP; May 19 University
second-place finisher Huseyin Akan because he was an AKP
candidate in 2007 elections, and passed over first-place
finisher Mehmet Bakir because he investigated plagiarism
claims against PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan's former
undersecretary. In contrast, Gul selected Bogazici
University's top candidate in the peer election over the
second vote-getter, Ayse Soysal, despite Soysal's support for
lifting the headscarf ban.


4. (U) Twelve academics resigned their administrative
positions at the prestigious Istanbul Technical University to
protest Gul's skipping over the school's top vote-getter to
appoint second-place finisher Professor Muhammad Sahin. Five
academics from Gazi University's faculty of medicine resigned
their administrative positions with similar complaints.
Deans of 10 faculties at Izmir's September 9 University
issued a declaration saying the assignments do not reflect
the will of the universities.


5. (C) Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP)
officials contend AKP, working through former party leader
Gul, is attempting an end-run around the Constitutional

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Court's annulment of AKP-sponsored amendments to allow women
to wear the Islamic headscarf at universities. CHP Istanbul
Deputy Mustafa Ozyurek dubbed the assignments the "revenge of
the turban," claiming AKP is working to remove from YOK and
universities professors who oppose headscarves on campus.
CHP Deputy Group Chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu claimed AKP already
elevated one of its loyalists to the YOK chairmanship and is
now attempting to fill university cadres with AKP devotees
who would permit headscarves at universities in practice, if
not by law. AKP officials who lambasted former President
Sezer for "undemocratic actions" when he did not select the
top vote-getters in university elections now argue there is
nothing wrong with AKP doing the same thing, Kilicdaroglu
told us. In a letter to Gul, Koc University rector Atilla
Askar reminded Gul of AKP's earlier statements urging Sezer
to respect peer election results.

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AKP Defends Appointments
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6. (C) In Gul's defense, AKP Deputy Group Chair Mustafa
Elitas told us Gul acted consistently with the 1992 law and
the constitution. Gul selected 17 of YOK's first choices and
4 of its second choices, he noted, adding Gul had no
influence or control over whether YOK selected the winners of
the university elections for the short-lists. Elitas called
CHP's argument hypocritical because the party did not protest
in 2007, when President Sezer appointed five candidates who
did not receive the highest number of votes. Elitas also
pointed to Gazi University, where, in 2004, CHP did not
protest when President Sezer passed over top vote-getter Riza
Ayhan and selected second-place finisher Kadri Yamac. This
year, CHP complained when President Gul selected Ayhan even
though Yamac this time finished first, a result Elitas called
"divine justice." Others attributed the Ayhan-Yamac
flip-flop to corruption allegations brought against Ayhan in
2004 and against Yamac this year.


7. (C) Metropoll President Professor Ozer Sencar, not
affiliated with AKP, told us the rectorship appointment
system always works as it did this year. "It has always been
a political, ideological process," he said, noting that when
he was an active professor he received the most votes in the
peer elections, with 47 percent of the vote, but was not
selected by YOK. Sencar maintained the risk of being banned
in connection with the AKP closure case caused Gul to act
more moderately on the rectors appointments, in contrast to
Sezer's radical approach of never assigning anyone who wasn't
a strong Kemalist. While AKP can try to eliminate extreme
Kemalists and leftists at universities and move in
conservatives as rectors, Sencar said, "they won't be able to
change the characteristics of the strongly secularist
universities."

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AKP Consolidating Power
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8. (C) Professor Aykan Erdemir, Middle East Technical
University's (METU) Associate Dean of Graduate Programs,
found nothing unusual about YOK and the president using
discretionary appointment powers or academics resigning on
selection of a new dean. What differed this year, according
to Erdemir, was the calculated, political collaboration
between YOK and Gul. In past elections, presidents screened
candidates based on broad fundamental values, such as views
of the constitution and principles of the Turkish Republic.
Over the past year, an AKP loyalist was appointed YOK
Chairman and, through attrition and new appointments, AKP
loyalists now hold a majority on the YOK board. Erdemir
claimed Gul and the new YOK board coordinated their efforts
to appoint candidates because of their patronage of AKP or
their political views on specific AKP initiatives, such as
the headscarf.


9. (C) Erdemir, Alemdar, and other academics told us Gul took
a short-sighted view by being obviously partisan in selecting
some rectors. Alemdar explained it is one thing to disregard
a small, new university's choices for rector, but another to
ignore the choices of a prestigious, well-established
university like Istanbul Technical, which has a 300-year
tradition and has proved able to govern itself. Erdemir said
the visibly partisan manner in which candidates were selected

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was a tremendous blow to morale at many state universities,
where idealistic professors work for low pay. He expects
many to begin leaving for private universities.

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Incessant Political Meddling Necessitates New System
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10. (C) Contacts across the political spectrum agree a new
selection system is needed. Metropoll's Sencar is convinced
the appointment process will remain political without a
complete overhaul. He suggests either abolishing peer
elections and establishing a Trustees Board to choose
candidates or allowing universities to nominate candidates
directly to the president without YOK's involvement. Gazi
University's Alemdar agreed, noting academics are
disillusioned to see the winning university candidates
overlooked; he proposes removing YOK and the president from
the process. Both AKP's Elitas and CHP's Kilicdaroglu also
admit the system needs to change, though neither offered
concrete proposals. Few expect follow-through on calls to
change the process, however. Sencar predicted the brouhaha
would last a week and then be forgotten, adding, "Political
parties want to use the process for their own advantage
rather than improving the system." It may take the growing
influence of prestigious private universities -- outside
YOK's jurisdiction -- to force change, as top-notch academics
flee the state system for better paying, better managed
positions.

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