Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
I am glad that Harut Sassounian wrote this report on the Turkish state’s diaspora policies.
For years I have watched as Turkish analysts and then policy makers have charted this course of action, now put into effect. They have worked to organize a diaspora that has no independence, that is led from the homeland, and they are succeeding in shaping one.
I would add that there is also a two-directional effort in which Turkey is (1) funding, placing, sending students to foreign universities on the basis of their ability and promise, and (2) major Turkish universities, with Bilkent leading the way, are offered positions in Turkish universities. Good, competitive positions, with the right salaries and conditions, are taking advantage of the fact that good academic job opportunities in the US, Britain and Germany are declining….
As I have lived, I have watched Turkey learn to act as a world power. From 1980 on, in the past 40+ years, they have learned and done so much, from having their best students trained at Harvard and MIT to creating bases for Turkish soldiers in Qatr and Djibouti, to making better towels and better drones. They have some visionary planners who are better than not just sad Armenia’s but the US’s …
Prof. Khachig Tololyan
