Dear Members of CAMWS,
As the president of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, I wish to express my own dismay and that of the CAMWS Executive Committee, as well, at the recent problems and threat of continued violence in Turkey. We are an organization at whose heart lie liberal learning and humanistic thought. We care deeply for the pursuit of truth and expression of a diversity of ideas in the academic context along with (and even more importantly) the safety of all humanity. With hope that the current Turkish regime will stop and think before it makes further inhumane decisions, we have written a note with content very similar to that of this note to the Turkish Embassy.
In that note we urge the Turkish government both to protect its rich cultural heritage, reflected in the excavated monuments and museum collections, and also to consider its future actions in light of widely recognized principles of human rights and human dignity. Reports of the purging of professors from universities and of teachers from schools, as well as arrests of those with political views different than the current regime are of great concern to us. In that regard, we strongly condemn violence, the suppression of academic freedom and individual liberties, and we urge the Turkish government both to protect that country's rich history and to safeguard its standing in the human community.
Thank you for your concern, thoughts and good wishes for this situation to improve.
Yours sincerely,
Alden Smith, President, and Executive Committee
The Classical Association of the Middle West and South
Here is the letter which will be sent to Serdar Kılıç, Turkish Ambassador to the United States:
Dear Ambassador Kılıç:
As the president of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, I wish to express my own dismay, that of the CAMWS Executive Committee, and that of the organization as a whole at the recent problems and threat of continued violence in Turkey. We are a society at whose heart lie liberal learning and humanistic thought. We care deeply for the pursuit of truth and expression of a diversity of ideas in the academic context along with (and even more importantly) the safety of all humanity.
In the hope that the Turkish regime will think before it acts, we urge your president and governing officials both to protect Turkey's rich cultural heritage, reflected in the excavated monuments and museum collections, and also to consider its future actions in light of widely recognized principles of human rights and human dignity. Reports of the purging of professors from universities and of teachers from schools, as well as arrests of those with political views different than the current regime are of great concern to us. In that regard, we strongly condemn violence, the suppression of academic freedom and individual liberties, and we urge the Turkish government both to protect that country's rich history and to safeguard its standing in the human community.
Thank you for your attention. Please be assured of our most sincere hope for this situation to improve.
Yours,
Alden Smith, President
The Classical Association of the Middle West and South
president@camws.org
president@camws.org
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