Atilla Yayla

All you want to know about Atilla Yayla

Atilla Yayla (born March 3, 1957(1957-03-03)) is a Turkish political thinker and a proponent of liberal democracy. He is Professor of Politics, Political Economy and Political Philosophy at Gazi University in Turkey, and the current president of the Liberal Düşünce Topluluğu (Association for Liberal Thinking), a liberal think tank.[1]

Yayla's views on Turkish history are controversial in Turkey, and have led to legal action against him in Turkish courts, which have driven the scholar into self-imposed exile.[2]

Contents

Life and career

He was born in 1957 in Kaman, Kırşehir.[1]

As an undergraduate, he studied economy at Ankara University, going on to earn a master's degree in public administration and a Ph.D in politics (1986).[1]

He is a visiting professor at the University of Buckingham.[3] He was the winner of the Anthony Fisher Prize in 2000 for his book "Islam, Civil Society and Market Economy".[3] Atilla Yayla was awarded the Personality of the Year Award by the Stockholm Network in 2007.[4]

Work and views

Atilla Yayla is the author of many books and articles in English and Turkish on terrorism, liberalism, constructivist rationalism, social justice, and Friedrich Hayek.

In a 1998 article "Türkiye'de İslam, İnsan Hakları ve Demokrasi" (Islam, Human Rights, and Democracy in Turkey), he suggests that the human rights and democracy should be implemented by Islamists in Turkey.[5]

In 2006, Yayla was charged with insulting the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk by pointing out that the early years of the republic were less democratic than the period after Turkey became a multi-party system,[2] and the cult of personality that has grown up around Atatürk since.[6]

Court case and exile

Yayla's views on Atatürk and the early years of the Turkish Republic led newspapers to proclaim him a traitor.[7][8][9][10] In a court case, he was convicted and received a suspended 15 month jail sentence, which he will appeal.[11][12] Yayla was also dismissed temporarily from his academic post. Since then, he has been living in self-imposed exile in England.[2]

Books

Several of Yayla's books are published by Liberte Yayınları (Liberte Publications), a company associated with the Liberal Düşünce Topluluğu.

  • On Terrorism (1990)
  • Liberalism (1992,1994,1997,2000,2003)
  • Liberal Approaches (1993, 2000)
  • The Road to Freedom (1993, 2000)
  • Social and Political Theory (ed.) (1994, 2000)
  • Rules and Order (Turkish translation of book by F.A. Hayek, 1994)
  • On the Welfare Party (with Melih Yürüsen) (1996, in Turkish and German)
  • On Turkish Political Parties (with Melih Yürüsen) (1996, in Turkish and German)
  • Introduction to Political Theory (1998)
  • Islam, Civil Society and the Market Economy (ed.) (1999, in English)
  • Road to Freedom: the Social and Economic Philosophy of Hayek (2000, in Turkish)
  • Guide to Protect Democracy (2001, in Turkish)
  • Statist Mentality and Market Economy (2001, in Turkish)
  • Dictionary of Political Thought (2007, 5th ed., in Turkish)
  • Market Civilization (2004, in Turkish)

Selected articles

References

  1. ^ a b c Academic Web site, Gazi University
  2. ^ a b c Tavernise, Sabrina (2008-01-25). "Turkey to Alter Speech Law", The New York Times. Retrieved on 1 July 2008. 
  3. ^ a b "New Visiting Professor in Economics and International Studies". Retrieved on 2008-04-15.
  4. ^ "Golden Umbrella Think Tank Awards". Retrieved on 2008-04-15.
  5. ^ Megalommatis, Muhammad Shamsaddin (2007-06-20). "Anti-Turkish Hysteria from the Financial Times: A Challenge to Democracy". American Chronicle. Ultio LLC. Retrieved on 2008-04-15. "Suffice it that you learn Turkish and read his brilliant publication "Türkiye'de İslam, İnsan Hakları ve Demokrasi" (1998); you will immediately realize that this theoretician of Turkey’s islamization and barbarization suggested that Human Rights and Democracy should be implemented in Turkey by … the Islamists!"
  6. ^ Rainsford, Sarah (2008-01-28). "Academic sentenced over Ataturk", BBC News. Retrieved on 1 July 2008. 
  7. ^ Kaya, Nuray (2006-11-19). "Hain Sözler (Treacherous Remarks)" (in Turkish), Yeni Asır. Retrieved on 1 July 2008. 
  8. ^ İnce, Devrim (2006-11-20). "Haine Tepkiler Yağıyor (The Traitor Receives Flak)" (in Turkish), Yeni Asır. Retrieved on 1 July 2008. 
  9. ^ Yilmaz, Murat (2008-07-02). "Yayla'yı kim mahkum etti? (Who condemned Yayla?)" (in Turkish), Yeni Şafak. Retrieved on 1 July 2008. 
  10. ^ Elidemir, Yücel (2006-11-29). "Hakaretin adı, fikir özgürlüğü (The insult is called freedom of thought)" (in Turkish), Yeni Asır. Retrieved on 1 July 2008. 
  11. ^ Daren Butler and Gareth Jones (2008-01-28). "Turkish academic convicted of insulting Ataturk". Reuters UK. Retrieved on 2008-01-29.
  12. ^ "Professor convicted of insulting Ataturk", USA Today (2008-01-28). Retrieved on 1 July 2008. 

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atilla_Yayla"

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