IIIT Cancels Book Talk Due to Author’s Article in Critical of Turkish President Erdogan [on Ahmet Kuru]

The International Institute of Islamic Thought, a privately held non-profit organization based in the USA, canceled a book talk by Ahmet Kuru, a professor of political science at San Diego State University, due to an article in which the author criticized the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Remove from your calendar! @IIITfriends cancelled my book talk, because they found out an article where I criticized Erdogan. My talk would be on my book, not Erdogan. So the cancellation is not on the “content” of the talk, but on who I am. Erdogan is influential, even in the US,” Kuru tweeted.

This is not the first time an event is cancelled allegedly at Turkey’s request. In April, 2019, Colombia University canceled a panel discussion on Turkey two days before the event, citing “academic standards.”

Steven A. Cook, one of the panelists and a senior fellow for Middle East & Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, has tweeted that the decision was made after “the university came under pressure form Turkish government.

“Disappointed to learn that @Columbia ‘s Provost effectively canceled this panel two days before the event, citing “academic standards.” One can only assume that the university came under pressure form the govt of #Turkey and its supporters. Terrible precedent,” Cook tweeted.

See more on this Topic
George Washington University’s Failure to Remove MESA from Its Middle East Studies Program Shows a Continued Tolerance for the Promotion of Terrorism
One Columbia Professor Touted in a Federal Grant Application Gave a Talk Called ‘On Zionism and Jewish Supremacy’