Atilla Yayla

Atilla Yayla
Born 3 March 1957
Kaman, Kırşehir, Turkey
Nationality Turkish
Field Political economy, ethics, civil rights theory
School or tradition
 Libertarian economics
Alma mater Ankara University
B.A. in Economics, 1980;
M.A. in Public Administration, 1983;
PhD in Political Sciences, 1986
Influences Plato · Aristotle · Hobbes · Locke · Hume · Bentham · Mill · Smith · Ricardo · Tocqueville · Bastiat · Hayek
Influenced ALT · AKP · LİYA
Atilla Yayla
2nd Chairman of Association for Liberal Thinking
In office
1997–2008
Preceded by Kazım Berzeg
Succeeded by Bican Şahin
Atilla Yayla
4th Chairman of Association for Liberal Thinking
Incumbent
Assumed office
2014
Preceded by Bican Şahin

Atilla Yayla (Turkish: [atiɫɫa jajɫa], born March 3, 1957), is a Turkish political thinker and a proponent of conservative democracy. He was Professor of Politics, Political Economy and Political Philosophy at Gazi University in Turkey[1] He is the department head of the International Relations department at Faculty of Commercial Sciences of Istanbul Commerce University in Turkey.[2] He also writes articles to the daily national conservative, pro-government Yeni Şafak newspaper. He was plagiarized an article from CATO Journal[3]

Life and career

He was born in 1957 in Kaman, Kırşehir.[1]

As an undergraduate, he studied economics at Ankara University, going on to earn a master's degree in public administration and a Ph.D in political science (1986).[1]

As one of the founders of Association for Liberal Thinking, he had also served the institution as the chairman between 1997 to 2008. He is still member of the institution.[1][4]

He was a visiting professor at the University of Buckingham.[5] He was the winner of the Anthony Fisher Prize in 2000 for his book "Islam, Civil Society and Market Economy".[5] Yayla was awarded the Person of the Year Award by the Stockholm Network in 2007.[6]

Work and views

Yayla is the author of many books and articles in English and Turkish on terrorism, liberalism, constructivist rationalism, social justice, and Friedrich Hayek.

In a 1998 article "Türkiye'de İslam, İnsan Hakları ve Demokrasi" (Islam, Human Rights, and Democracy in Turkey), he suggests that the human rights and democracy should be implemented by Islamists in Turkey.[7]

In 2006, Yayla was charged with insulting the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk by calling him "that man" in a speech where he argued that the early years of the republic were less democratic than the period after Turkey became a multi-party system,[8] and the cult of personality that has grown up around Atatürk since.[9]

Court case and exile

Yayla's views on Atatürk and the early years of the Turkish Republic led certain kemalist newspapers, notably Yeni Asır, to proclaim him a traitor.[10][11][12][13] In a court case, he was convicted and received a suspended 15 month jail sentence by the kemalist tutelage judicial system that had an important influence in Turkish politics and society until it was gradually suppressed by the conservative-liberal AKP.[14][15] Yayla was also dismissed temporarily from his academic post.[8]

Books

Several of Yayla's books are published by Liberte Yayınları (Liberte Publications), a company associated with the Liberal Düşünce Topluluğu.

Selected articles

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Academic Web site, Gazi University
  2. ↑ Academic Web site, Istanbul Commerce University
  3. ↑ "Atilla Yayla" (in Turkish).
  4. ↑ "Atilla Yayla" (in Turkish). Liberte Publications. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "New Visiting Professor in Economics and International Studies". Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  6. ↑ "Golden Umbrella Think Tank Awards" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  7. ↑ Megalommatis, Muhammad Shamsaddin (2007-06-20). "Anti-Turkish Hysteria from the Financial Times: A Challenge to Democracy". American Chronicle. Ultio LLC. Retrieved 2008-04-15. Suffice it that you learn Turkish and read his brilliant publication "Türkiye'de İslam, İnsan Hakları ve Demokrasi" (1998); you will immediately realize that this theoretician of Turkey’s islamization and barbarization suggested that Human Rights and Democracy should be implemented in Turkey by … the Islamists!
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Tavernise, Sabrina (2008-01-25). "Turkey to Alter Speech Law". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  9. ↑ Rainsford, Sarah (2008-01-28). "Academic sentenced over Ataturk". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  10. ↑ Kaya, Nuray (2006-11-19). "Hain Sözler (Treacherous Remarks)". Yeni Asır (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  11. ↑ İnce, Devrim (2006-11-20). "Haine Tepkiler Yağıyor (The Traitor Receives Flak)". Yeni Asır (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  12. ↑ Yilmaz, Murat (2008-07-02). "Yayla'yı kim mahkum etti? (Who condemned Yayla?)". Yeni Şafak (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  13. ↑ Elidemir, Yücel (2006-11-29). "Hakaretin adı, fikir özgürlüğü (The insult is called freedom of thought)". Yeni Asır (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  14. ↑ Daren Butler and Gareth Jones (2008-01-28). "Turkish academic convicted of insulting Ataturk". Reuters UK. Archived from the original on 7 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  15. ↑ "Professor convicted of insulting Ataturk". USA Today. 2008-01-28. Retrieved 2008-07-01.

External links