A Symbiotic Relationship between Academic Freedom and Liberal Democracy: The Case of Higher Education in Turkey

• In Event: Democratic Backsliding and Academic Freedom II: Case Studies

Abstract

This paper argues that academic freedom has a symbiotic relationship with democracy in Turkey. In other words, academic freedom is necessary for democracy while simultaneously being conditioned by it. By applying a Saidian lens, I advocate that academic freedom depends on the autonomy and accountability of higher education (HE) institutions. The paper first traces the origins of Turkish HE in the context of the Ottoman Empire’s Westernisation and foreign relations when academic freedom was introduced as part of the modernisation process. The second section then unpacks the paradoxical association between university reforms and military coups in Turkey. In order to reveal this symbiotic relationship, the next section analyses the relationship between the attacks on academic freedoms and the rise of illiberal democracy under the AKP rule within the neoliberal order. The paper concludes by highlighting the unprecedented consequences of the attacks on academic freedom that reflect Turkey’s deepening democratic backsliding in the twenty-first century.

Author

• Ayla Gol, York St John University