The Middle East Studies Association (MESA), joined by several other disciplinary organizations, has finally issued a letter condemning the actions against Turkish academics, days after the purges began. But while MESA et al. condemn the persecutions, they never mention Turkish president Erdogan by name, nor do they note (much less condemn) the reason behind the purges: to pave the way for the Islamization of all of Turkish society, long a goal of Erdogan and his AKP colleagues and followers. MESA and its co-signers willfully ignore these inconvenient facts lest they disavow their decades-long romance with anti-Western “moderate Islamists.” One supposes they’re still searching for a motive.
Winfield Myers is managing editor of the Middle East Forum and director of its Campus Watch project, which reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North American universities. He has taught world history and other topics at the University of Michigan, the University of Georgia, Tulane, and Xavier University of Louisiana. He was previously managing editor of The American Enterprise magazine and CEO of Democracy Project, Inc., which he co-founded. Mr. Myers has served as senior editor and communications director at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and is principal author and editor of a college guide, Choosing the Right College (1998, 2001). He was educated at the University of Georgia, Tulane, and the University of Michigan.
