AGREEMENT REACHED ON SEN APPOINTMENT
Turkish Daily News
July 16 2008
Agreement was reached yesterday between Dr. Faruk Sen, the director of
the Center for Studies on Turkey (TAM) in Essen, Germany, and Rhine
North Westphalia Minister Armin Laschet under which the director
will continue at TAM until December 2008 [HH] Prof. Dr. Faruk Sen
who has headed TAN for 23 years will become the director of the
German University Foundation in Izmir [HH] The Minister and TAM
Board Chairman Dr. Fritz Schaumann expressed their pleasure over the
university project at what the latter characterized as a turning point
in Turkish-German relations and as a contribution to the development
of cultural relations between Turks and Germans [HH] Sen was called to
account for his comparison of Turks as the new Jews of Europe in his
May article in Turkish newspaper Referans. For that he was confronted
with the possible loss of the position that he held for 23 years
GUL DEMÄ°R and NIKI GAMM ISTANBUL – Turkish Daily News
Agreement was reached yesterday between Dr. Faruk Å~_en, the director
of the Center for Studies on Turkey (TAM) in Essen, Germany, and
North Westphalia Minister Armin Laschet over Sen’s future. Under the
agreement the director will continue to serve as head of the Center
until 31 December 2008 and from January 2009 until 2010, he will
direct the German University Foundation in Izmir.
The Minister and TAM Board Chairman Dr. Fritz Schaumann expressed their
pleasure over the university project at what the latter characterized
as a turning point in Turkish-German relations and as a contribution to
the development of cultural relations between Turks and Germans. They
also noted the many years of work that Sen had put into TAM and into
studies on the Turkish worker in Germany.
Sen noted that he was happy the problem that had arisen over an article
he had written in May in the Turkish newspaper Referans concerning
the Turks as the new Jews of Europe had been resolved. He also said
that he considered the agreement that was reached honored the work
that he had carried out over the years.
Å~^en article pointed out a painful reality
Å~^en was called to account for his comparison of Turks as the new
Jews of Europe in his May article. For that he was confronted with
the possible loss of the position that he has held for 23 years.
Energetic, focussed, disciplined, capable of juggling many things
at the same time, patient in research, impatient when it comes to
expressing his opinion – this article was rather typical of Sen. Born
in Ankara in 1948, he studied at the Istanbul German School and then
at the beginning of the 1970s he went to Munster University in Germany
concentrating on management economy. He received his Ph.D. from the
same university with a thesis on "Turkish Worker Companies in Federal
Germany." Sen taught at Bamberg and Essen Universities and then on
1 October 1985, he took on the directorship of the newly established
Center for Studies on Turkey in Essen and has continued in that post
until today.
When one says he is active, he has supervised a large staff, promoted
TAM, taught courses at Essen University and written many books and
articles. Could anyone do any more than that?
The work carried out at the Center has been thorough and reliable
backed up by interviews and frequent, extensive surveys on topics of
importance to the Turkish community in Germany, the German and Turkish
governments and the European Union. Sen’s background in economics
ensures that any statistics cited are accurate and, unlike many
professors, he sees to it that reports are readable and understandable
by people who are not necessarily grounded in statistical analysis.
Sen has been eerily correct in some of his surmises. For example
in1994, he was predicting that the so-called Visigrad countries –
Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia would be the next
countries to join the EU and would make Turkey less appealing as a
full member state. He believed at the time that it was essential for
Turkey to be admitted to customs union with the EU or it would become
much, much harder for it to become a full-member state. Actually
Turkey today has a customs union but is still far away from becoming
a full member. At the same time Sen pointed out that there was some
hope to be had where France was concerned when it was to hold the
EU presidency in 1995. Today it is again holding that position but
whether or not one can hold to the same hope is a moot question.
Sen has told the TDN that he sees the EU’s policy towards Turkey
as ambivalent. Both sides agree to final membership but the future
significance of Turkey to Europe is unknown. "This leads the EU to
conflicting decisions such as approving economic support and pledging
assistance for the developing democracies of Central European and
Baltic countries while, in some eyes remaining opposed to Turkey’s
membership, although Turkey is indisputably more economically and
politically stable than the other countries."
Since Sen frequently is quite frank in his opinions, perhaps it is
not so surprising that a flap over his article. Entitled Europe’s New
Jews, the article pointed out that there were 5.2 million Turks living
in Europe and facing discrimination. This made them more sensitive
to the issue of discrimination against Jews, Armenians and Greeks
of Turkish origin in Turkey and more sympathetic because they were
essentially in the same boat.
In the article, Sen was supporting the view of businessman
/ industrialist Ishak Alaton who had claimed that there was
state-sponsored discrimination against Jews in Turkey. Sen used the
analogy of the way that Turks in Germany were treated as comparable
to the way Jews were treated in Germany before World War Two. This
article shouldn’t have become so very important and Sen explained that
his comment was misinterpreted. He even apologized. Prominent members
of the Jewish community in Turkey including Alaton and members of
the Jewish community in Germany have come to the support of Sen who
was forced to accept compulsory leave from the Center and faced the
possibility of being removed from his position of 23 years.
One interpretation of the flap is that Sen has made enemies over the
years as director of the Center and these people wanted to see him
ousted. Well, who doesn’t make enemies if he or she is successful? Some
people might also want to see a change in direction for the Center,
perhaps away from its evenhanded, apolitical stance. Or perhaps Germans
are still supersensitive where remarks about Jews in Germany can rub
on a sore spot.
Perhaps Sen should not have written about this issue, given his
close ties with Turkey and Germany. On the other hand Britain’s
first Muslim Minister, Shahid Malik this month has claimed that the
Muslims in Britain are being made to feel as if they were targeted
like the Jews of Europe. Malik’s comments are backed up by polls
and he further refers to places in Europe where Muslims are also
discriminated against.
–Boundary_(ID_FAfWNb+tH6M5iE6rISRnRQ)–