Yücel Aşkın

Yücel Aşkın (* 1943 in Ankara ) is a Turkish former university director, writer and documentary filmmaker of Armenian descent.

Life

Aşkın is a grandson of the theater director Agop Güllü and the son of the violin player Necip Yakup Aşkın . He was given his name Yücel by the Minister of Education Hasan Ali Yücel at the suggestion of a friend of his father's . Yücel attended primary school in Istanbul. Then went to the Conservatory in Ankara, where he learned to play the piano on the advice of teachers. After graduating, he attended the Faculty of Agriculture at Istanbul University, where he studied zootechnics. He became an assistant at the same faculty. He wrote his doctoral thesis on New Zealand white rabbits , this doctoral thesis was the first doctoral thesis in Turkey that was about rabbits. At German universities he worked on reproductive biology. In 1989 Aşkın completed his habilitation.

In 1995, Aşkın moved to Van , where he became Dean of the Agriculture Faculty of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University. In 1999 he became dean of the university. During his tenure as dean, the university ranked ninth among the institutions in Turkey with the most scientific publications.

Aşkin is one of the founders of the Turkish association DASK, which is dedicated to nature conservation, research and sport in nature. For a time he was chairman of the cave research association MAG . For the Turkish state broadcaster TRT he shot the documentaries Köprüçay , Türkiye Mağaraları (German: Caves of Turkey), Karanlık Boğaza Doğru (German: To the Dark Throat ), Akdağlar , Elmalı'nın Gizi (German: The Secrets of Elmalı) and Yahyalı'dan Aladağ (German: From Yahyalı to Aladağ). The documentary about the Turkish caves was awarded a prize.

Accusations made against him during his tenure as director of the University of Van caused a stir. At times, Yücel faced up to 3,185 years imprisonment through various legal proceedings. The prosecution charged him with corruption, illegal possession of antiques and setting up a criminal organization. In the opinion of the opposition and large parts of the press, Aşkin, who has meanwhile been acquitted of all charges, was a victim of the Islamists, for whom he was a thorn in the side because he took vigorous action against religious zealots. The charge is said to have stood on feet of clay. The allegations of corruption are said to have related to the purchase of medical equipment for the medical faculty when Aşkın was not even the director of the university. An investigative commission is said to have exonerated him from the allegations, but a court case was initiated anyway. The accusation that he had founded a criminal organization also seemed constructed according to the time . The organization is said to have consisted of two people. The accusation of illegally owning antiques also turned out to be untenable, and all antiques turned out to be properly registered with government agencies. Der Spiegel comments on the unsubstantiated charges brought against Askin by the public prosecutor's office support the suspicion of Turkish commentators that it was an act of revenge by religious-conservative circles on the enlightened director and says that the dubious indictment raises the question what Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his party, the AKP , stand for. The AKP's position on this can also be seen in the example of MP Ramazan Toprak, who, alluding to Aşkın's ancestry, said disparagingly that Aşkın was an Armenian and that Van was targeting because the city was located on the holy mountain of the Armenians, the Ararat . Faruk Şen , the head of the Center for Turkish Studies at the time, says: Askin was a thorn in the side of the Islamist forces. That's why they wanted to finish him off . The journalist and expert for the Middle East Michael Rubin holds the Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan personally responsible for the imprisonment of Aşkın. The assistant general secretary of the University of Enver Arpalı , who was accused with Yücel, committed suicide while in custody . Aşkın had been in custody innocently for several months and suffered a heart condition while in prison.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} News portal of the Turkish daily newspaper Radikal : Short biographical article about Yücel Askin ( memento of the original from January 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 31, 2005, (Turkish) 
2. ↑ ^{a b} News portal of the news magazine Der Spiegel : Islam conflict at a Turkish university, professor in disgrace , accessed on September 7, 2006
3. ↑ News portal of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit : Will religious extremists take over the universities in Turkey?
4. ↑ Personal website Michael Rubins: Turkey on the Brink , 2010, (English)
5. ↑ News portal of the Turkish daily newspaper Hürriyet : Koğuşunda intihar , accessed on November 14, 2005, (Turkish)

Web links

• Article about Aşkın