Prime Minister of Republic of Turkey
Basbakanlik
Bakanliklar
Ankara
3 August 2007
Your Excellency,
We learn with surprise and alarm, that the Mathematical Summer School, organised by Professor Ali Nesin for undergraduate students from Turkish universities, has been closed by the local authorities. We learned that one of the reasons invoked is "education without permission".
We are surprised that a mathematician of Professor Ali Nesin’s stature is not allowed to teach mathematics without asking, on every occasion, for specific permission from officials. This appears to be inconsistent with the fact that the Summer Schools, which Professor Ali Nesin organises every year are financially supported by TUBITAK, the highest research institution of your country and also by the Turkish Mathematical Society and several respected Turkish universities.
We would like to think that the closing of the Mathematical Summer School was an accident that will be corrected soon, and other minor bureaucratic problems resolved in time. We find it difficult to understand the barriers that are erected in front of Professor Ali Nesin, who has made selfless efforts in the education of the young people of Turkey. Indeed, over the last few years, some of us have had the chance to work with several very talented young Turkish doctoral students who have either been Professor Ali Nesin's students and/or participated in his annual Summer Schools.
Your Excellency,
in view of the exceptional educational value of Professor Ali Nesin's institution - not only for Turkish mathematics, but for mathematics internationally - we would appreciate your taking the resolution of the incident under your personal control.
Yours sincerely
Professor Alexandre Borovik, on behalf of co-signatories:
Professor Tuna Altinel, University Claude Bernard, Lyon, France
Professor John Baldwin, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Professor Luc Belair, Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Canada
Professor Zoe Chatzidakis, University Paris 7, France
Professor Gregory Cherlin, Rutgers University, USA
Professor Wilfrid Hodges, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Professor Angus Macintyre FRS, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Professor Mike Prest, University of Manchester, UK
Professor Frank Wagner, University Claude Bernard, Lyon, France
Professor Alex Wilkie FRS, Oxford University, UK
Professor Carol Wood, Wesleyan University, USA
Professor Boris Zilber, Oxford University, UK
This petition is also supported by
- Dr Hossein Andikfar, University of Toledo, USA
- Dr John Armstrong, Tulane University, USA
- Professor Matthias Aschenbrenner, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
- Caner Aslan, Artist, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Dr Salih Azgin, McMaster University, Canada
- Dr Aydan Balamir, METU, Turkey
- Professor Hyman Bass, University of Michigan, USA
- Professor Michael Benedikt, Oxford University, UK
- Dr Ayse Berkman, METU, Turkey
- Dr Ozlem Beyarslan, University Paris 7, France
- Professor Andreas Blass, University of Michigan, USA
- Dr Zafer Bozkus, METU, Turkey
- Serkan Cabi, MIT Center for Theoretical Physics, USA
- Dr Bogachan Celen, Columbia University, USA
- Professor Igor Dolgachev, University of Michigan, USA
- William Ella, University of Mary Washington, USA
- Professor José M Figueroa-O'Farrill, University of Edinburgh, UK
- Joseph D. Flenner, University of California, Berkeley, USA
- Dr Dmitriy Fon-Der-Flaass, Institute of Mathematics, Novosibirsk, Russia
- Professor Brayton Gray, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
- Professor Robert L. Griess, University of Michigan, USA
- Dr Ugur Gul, Sabanci University, Turkey
- Professor İsmail Ş. Güloğlu, Doğuş Üniversitesi, İstanbul, Turkey
- Professor Leo A Harrington, University of California, Berkeley, USA
- Professor Ehud Hrushovski, Hebrew University at Jerusalem, Israel
- Dr Ilya Kapovich, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
- Professor Timur Karacay, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey
- Dr Jonathan Kirby, Oxford University, UK
- Dr Inna Korchagina, University of Warwick, UK
- Professor Jan Krajicek, Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
- Professor Mahmut Kuzucuoglu, METU, Turkey
- Dr Mathieu Langer, Université Paris-Sud XI, France
- YankI Lekili, MIT, USA
- Dr Anna Lenzhen, University of Michigan, USA
- Professor Dugald Macpherson, University of Leeds, UK
- Victor Maltcev, St Andrews University, UK
- Professor Dave Marker, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
- Dr Steve Mayer, Open University, UK
- Alice Medvedev, University of California, Berkeley, USA
- Richard Mills, Oregon State University, USA
- Dr Amir Niknejad, East Tennessee State University, USA
- Gonenc Onay, University Paris VII, France
- Dr Kurtulus Ozcetin, Canada
- Dr David Pierce, METU, Turkey
- Professor Anand Pillay, University of Leeds, UK
- Professor Haluk Oral, Bogazici University, Turkey
- Abhijnan Rej, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Mathematik, Bonn, Germany
- Nitin Rughoonauth, African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Republic of South Africa
- Seb Schmoller, Association for Learning Technology, UK
- Professor Ronald Solomon, The Ohio State University, USA
- Professor Stephen D. Smith, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
- Professor Patrick Speissegger, McMaster University, Canada
- Thomas Stephens, Northern Virginia Community College, USA
- Professor Ralph Stohr, University of Manchester, UK
- Professor Simon Thomas, Rutgers University, USA
- Dr Marcus Tressl, University of Manchester, UK
- Professor John Kenneth Truss, University of Leeds, UK
- Yasemin Unal, Retired F&B manager Hilton-Ankara Hotel, Turkey
- Professor A. S. Ustunel, Ecole Nationale Superieure de Telecommunications, Paris, France
- Professor Andrés Villaveces, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia
- Professor Arthur G. Wasserman, University of Michigan, USA
- Professor Yi Zhang, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, P. R. China
- Bora Akçay, Dipl. Architect, Turkey
- Mehmet Haluk Sengun, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
- Ryan Kinser, University of Michigan, USA
- Hernando Tellez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.
- Professor K. Ilhan Ikeda, Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey
- Stephanie Jakus, University of Michigan, USA
- Engin Ozkan, METU, Turkey
- Professor Louis H. Kauffman, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
- Professor Nesrin Seyhan, Gazi University, Turkey
- Dr Sukru Yalcinkaya, Turkey
- Halil Gamsizkan, METU, Turkey
- Henning Ulfarsson, Brown University, USA
- Pierre Larochelle, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
- Dr Zeynep Onur, Girne American University, Turkey
- D. Rana Nergis Ogut, METU,Turkey
- Bülent Tosun, METU, Turkey
- Dr Banu Uzun, Isik University, Turkey
- Professor Semih Bilgen, METU, Turkey
- Dr Özgür Kişisel, METU, Turkey
- Hakan GÜNTÜRKÜN, METU, Turkey
- Art Director, Rodin Alper Bingol, Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey
- Professor Mehmet Zulfu Asik, METU, Turkey
- Ozer Ozturk, METU, Turkey
- Dr Deniz Unal, Cukurova University, Turkey
- Mehmet Umut Isik, University of Pennsylvania, USA
- H. Can Aran, University of Twente, Netherlands
- Professor Betul Tanbay, Bogazici University, Turkey
- A. Muhammed Uludag, GSU, Istanbul, Turkey
- Professor Dogan Dönmez, Cukurova University, Turkey
- Professor Yusuf ÜNLÜ, Çukurova Üniversitesi, Adana, Turkey
- Sefa Feza Arslan, METU, Turkey
- Sezen Sekmen, METU, Turkey
- Austin Shapiro, University of Michigan, USA
- Professor Gulsen Onengut, Cukurova University, Adana,Turkey
- Apostolos Beligiannis, University of Ioannina, Greece
- Professor William Lionheart, University of Manchester, UK
- Professor Arzu Yorgancıoğlu, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey
- Professor David E. Booth, Kent State University, USA
- Craig Laughton, Manchester University, UK
- Dr Robert Bruce Findler, University of Chicago, USA
- Dr Shriram Krishnamurthi, Brown University, USA
- Seyfi Turkelli, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
- Juan Diego Caycedo, Oxford University, UK
- Professor Haldun M. Ozaktas, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
- Professor Murat Lekili, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey
- Dr Esra Mungan, Bogazici University, Turkey
- Olivier Roche, University of freiburg, Germany
- Professor Cihan Saclioglu, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey
- Proessor Janos Simon, University of Chicago, USA
- Dr Kivanc Inelmen, Bogazici University, Turkey
- Dr Talia Fernos, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
- Demirhan Tunc, University of Notre Dame, USA
- Semin Ayhan, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey
- Ayse Mutlu Derya, Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey
- Dr Onur Yavuz, METU, Turkey
- Professor Hilmi Demiray, Isik University, Istanbul, Turkey
- Ahmet Munir Piroglu, METU, Turkey
- Professor Gurol Irzik, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
- Professor Sami Gülgöz, Koç University, Turkey
- Dr Arkadas Ozakin, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
- M.Taylan Sengul, Indiana University
- Azadeh Neman, Universite Lyon 1, France
- Professor Bradd Hart, McMaster University, Canada
- Professor Sadettin Erdem, Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey
- Emre Kose, Bogazici University, Turkey
- Vural Cam, METU, Turkey
- Dr Kivanc Inelmen, Bogazici University, Turkey
- Professor Mustafa Korkmaz, METU, Turkey
- Dr Mine Gol-Guven, Bogazici University, Turkey
- Dr Yesem Kurt, Randolph College, USA
- Professor Haldun M. Ozaktas, Bilkent University, Turkey
- Dr Serpil Özaloðlu, Bilkent University, Turkey
- Dr Jeremy Rouse, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
- Daniela Banu, University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA
- Professor Ali Riza KANDİLOĞLU, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey
- Hayriye Çelik, METU, Turkey
- Ali Altug, Princeton University, USA
- Dr Selcuk Demir, Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey
- Pinar Ugurlu, METU, Turkey
- Dr Franz Lichtenberger, Research Institute for Symbolic Computation, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria
- Ozlem Cavusoglu, Istanbul Kultur University, Istanbul, Turkey
- Professor Ali Alpar, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey
- Ergun Yalcin, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
- Professor Asli Tolun, Boğaziçi University, Turkey
- Yildiray Ozan, METU, Turkey
- Professor Faruk Gungor, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
- Kivanc Ersoy, METU, Turkey
- Ugur Madran, Izmir University of Economics, Izmir, Turkey
- Frank Thorne, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
- Joel Robbin, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
- Christine Charretton, Institut Camille Jordan, Universite Claude Bernard - Lyon 1, France
- Professor Arif MARDIN, TELECOM-INT, Evry, France
- Zeynep Özkurt , Çukurova University, Adana, Türkiye
- Professor Zafer Nurlu, METU, Turkey
- Professor Kuban Altinel, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
- Arsin ARSIK, Bogazici University, Turkey
- Professor Cigdem Altay (retired), Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
- Kristen Ashford, Jefferson High School, San Francisco, USA
- Kivilcim Kilic, Austin College, USA
- Unal Ufuktepe, Izmir Institute of Technology, Izmir,Turkey
- Professeur Itaï BEN YAACOV, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France
- Dr Alexey Muranov, Université Lyon 1, France
- Janak Ramakrishnan, University of California, Berkeley, USA
- Professor Peter Cholak, University of Notre Dame, USA
- Professor Jordan Ellenberg, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
- Professor Matthew Valeriote, McMaster University, Canada
- Professor Cheryl Praeger, University of Western Australia, Australia
- Professor Bill Kantor, University of Oregon, USA
- Professor John Thompson, University of Florida, USA, and Cambridge University, UK
with more signatures coming.
If you wish to add your name to the petition, please e-mail me at
giving your title, full name, affiliation and email address.
