Rememberings: Human Rights, Historical Trauma and the Future of Pluralism

📍Political scientists from 21 countries in Europe and North Africa today voiced shock and revulsion at the decision of a Turkish Court to sentence 64 year old to spend the rest of his days in prison without any possibility of parole.

⚖️The Association of Schools of Political Studies of the Council of Europe (ASPS) said the decision to find the Turkish Human Rights defender and philanthropist guilty of trying to overthrow the government on trumped up charges was a travesty of justice in defiance of a binding ruling of the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights to release him.

⚖️The ASPS called for the immediate release of both Osman Kavala, founder of the Turkish School of Political Studies and of the 7 other defendants in the case, including their colleague, Hakan Altinay, Director of the Turkish School who were all sentenced to 18 years in prison.

⚖️While welcoming the on-going infringement proceedings concerning Turkey’s non-compliance with the ECHR’s ruling, the ASPS underscored that the Kavala verdict was a political decision and called for immediate political action on the part of the Council of Europe, the European Union and their member States to reaffirm their commitment to Europe’s fundamental values and to salvage their credibility.

⚖️ Urging all European democracies to stand up for their values the ASPS said Europe’s two leading institutions, the European Union and the Council of Europe must act now to safeguard democracy, peace and security for future generations before it is too late.

📌Official statement: 👉https://www.schoolsofpoliticalstudies.eu/index.php/en/about-us/asps-news/594-press-statement-on-the-osman-kavala-case

Call for Applications
Summer School
Remembering and Coexisting in Turkey and the Eastern Mediterranean

June 20 - July 1 2022
Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul

This summer school offers a unique opportunity for students and civil society activists to deepen their knowledge on pluralism, historical trauma and human rights in Turkey and the Eastern Mediterranean. The aim is to engage in conceptual discussions, advance methodological skills, and develop a network with leading scholars and civil society organizations active in these fields.
Participants and lecturers will discuss what cultural pluralism has meant in the past, what it means today, and survey how Turkey and other Eastern Mediterranean countries have struggled with their culturally pluralistic heritage and how these developments relate to the development of human rights. Special attention is given to oral history as a methodology and to the dynamics between academia and civil society in the advancement of knowledge related to these themes in the public sphere.
This summer school is organized for the second time by the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII), financially supported by the Swedish Institute (SI), and held in collaboration with civil society organizations in Turkey.
The 10-day long full-time program will include seminars, workshops, study visits, and other interactive activities. Opportunities for one-on-one mentorship around individual research topics will also be provided.
Accommodation and travel expenses will be fully covered for participants living outside of Istanbul.

Who can apply
Undergraduate and graduate students, as well as civil society activists working on history, sociology, cultural heritage, cultural pluralism, memory studies, human rights, and other related fields. Fluency in both English and Turkish is required. Applications from students with limited access to international higher education programmes and who seek to further their work in these fields are strongly encouraged.

How to apply
Please send your CV and a letter of motivation that includes a brief research proposal to [email protected] by March 31.
Participants will be notified by the end of April.
We look forward to receiving your application!

Important note: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, participants are required to present their vaccination cards.

Unspoken memories, unwritten histories:
Eastern Mediterranean pluralism in oral history and memory studies
A series of workshops devoted to theory and practice in academia and civil society

Less than a hundred years ago, most Eastern Mediterranean cities were marked by a high degree of cultural pluralism. Whereas the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of modern nation-states heralded its end, some cities retained their cosmopolitan nature well until the Second World War. Oral histories and communicative memories of ethnoreligious groups that constituted vital parts of these cities are still living, often wound up with unhealed and suppressed historical. At the same time, simplified and nostalgic visions of a pluralist past are sometimes held up as role models for present-day Eastern Mediterranean societies without questioning, or without regard for the challenges that they entail. Local academics and civil society organizations alike play vital roles in researching, highlighting and supporting pluralism and pluralist heritage, sometimes in defiance of nationalist historiographies and policies.

The series Unspoken memories, unwritten histories, arranged by the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII), operates at a cross-section of academic research and civil society activism. It aims to bring together young scholars of history, minorities and human rights with representatives of academia and civil society in a number of Eastern Mediterranean cities outside of Turkey. The fifth workshop of the series is entitled The place of cultural pluralism in Sarajevo and will take place via Zoom.

Speakers of the panel, March 11 at 18:00 (UTC+3):

Dženeta Karabegović, Sociology and Human Geography, University of Salzburg
Bayram Şen, researcher at the Orijentalni Institut, Sarajevo University.
Tatjana Milovanović, program director at the Post-Conflict Research Center.

Eligible for participation are advanced students with a background in Bosnian, Serbian, and Ottoman culture and history, cultural and minority studies, or political, social and Human Rights studies. They should send their CV, together with a letter of interest outlining their interest in the topic and the ways in which it connects with their own research, no later than February 28, 2022, to [email protected]. Participants will be notified by March 4, 2022.

İstanbul İsveç Araştırma Enstitüsü’nün yönettiği Rememberings/Hatırlamalar projesinin düzenlediği Türkçe Sohbetler serisinin bu yayınında, Amsterdam Üniversitesi ve NIOD’da Holokost ve Soykırım Çalışmaları profesörü Uğur Ümit Üngör ve Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, Atatürk Enstitüsü öğretim üyesi Seda Altuğ, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu ve Türkiye’de Tarihsel Travma meselesini masaya yatırıyor.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYDpLZ6I_ZHZsZYIdzWdNQQ

7 Mayıs Cuma günü saat 17:00'da Mahir Polat ve Laki Vingas'ı İstanbul'da Çoğulculuk meselesini tartışmaya çağırıyoruz.

YouTube'dan canlı olarak yapacağımız yayınımızı kaçırmayınız.

https://youtu.be/Q23EHWvP8cI

https://youtu.be/aBZcp5HrLFk

Osmanlı İmparatorluğu ve Türkiye'de Çoğulculuk - Hamit Bozarslan geçmişe baktığımızda Doğu Akdeniz’deki çoğu şehirde çoğulcu bir kültürün izlerini görmekteyiz. Osmanlı İmp...

https://youtu.be/9HRXHWPIztM

Osmanlı İmparatorluğu ve Türkiye'de çoğulculuk - Edhem Eldem geçmişe baktığımızda Doğu Akdeniz’deki çoğu şehirde çoğulcu bir kültürün izlerini görmekteyiz. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun p...

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Unspoken memories, unwritten histories:
Eastern Mediterranean pluralism in oral history and memory studies
A series of workshops devoted to theory and practice in academia and civil society

Less than a hundred years ago, most Eastern Mediterranean cities were marked by a high degree of cultural pluralism. Whereas the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of modern nation-states heralded its end, some cities retained their cosmopolitan nature well until the Second World War. Oral histories and communicative memories of ethnoreligious groups that constituted vital parts of these cities are still living, often wound up with unhealed and suppressed historical. At the same time, simplified and nostalgic visions of a pluralist past are sometimes held up as role models for present-day Eastern Mediterranean societies without questioning, or without regard for the challenges that they entail. Local academics and civil society organizations alike play vital roles in researching, highlighting and supporting pluralism and pluralist heritage, sometimes in defiance of nationalist historiographies and policies.

The series Unspoken memories, unwritten histories, arranged by the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII), operates at a cross-section of academic research and civil society activism. It aims to bring together young scholars of history, minorities and human rights with representatives of academia and civil society in a number of Eastern Mediterranean cities outside of Turkey. The second workshop of the series is entitled The place of cultural pluralism in Thessaloniki and will take place via Zoom.

Speakers of the panel, March 26 at 18:00 (UTC+3):

Cengiz Şişman, Professor of History, University of Houston-Clear Lake
Leon Saltiel, Assistant Professor of History, University of Macedonia
Despina Syrri, Director of the Civic School of Political Studies

Eligible for participation are advanced students with a background in Turkish, Greek or Jewish culture and history, cultural and minority studies, or political, social and Human Rights studies. They should send their CV, together with a letter of interest outlining their interest in the topic and the ways in which it connects with their own research, no later than March 21, 2021, to [email protected]. Participants will be notified by March 23, 2021.