Turkish Daily News: "Turkish academia and academics
Monday, January 17, 2005
DOGU ERGIL
The Higher Education Council (YOK) was a creation of the military regime that shaped the present formal institutional system of Turkey following the 1980 coup d'etat. Autonomy of various organizations was abolished and they were made an organic part of the formal structure of the state with universities unable to escape this fact. YOK is really the result of the tutelary mentality that strived to put Turkey under the strict control of the state, which in turn was put under the surveillance of the military establishment.
Following the putsch in 1980, the universities were hammered into nationalist machinery that worked as an educational institution to turn out obedient subjects of the state, limiting freedom of thought, teaching and research. Needless to say this was in line with the basic reflex of the state i.e. national security. Every issue in statecraft and the performance of formal institutions were measured with these criteria. This concern indeed succeeded in creating a sanitary ground in academia, but hardly produced any dynamism and versatility to bring it up to the standards of its international counterparts. "
