Günter Meyer

Günter Meyer

Günter Meyer (born 25 August 1946) is a German Geographer and Orientalist. He is director of the Center for Research on the Arab World (CERAW) at the University of Mainz. Meyer focuses mainly on the Political Geography of the Arab World, and the economic as well as urban development in the Middle East, especially in Egypt, Syria, Yemen and the UAE, but also in Germany. He became known to a wider German-speaking audience through interviews on the Iraq War, the Syrian Civil War and on the Libyan Civil War 2011 and 2014.

Scientific career

Meyer studied Geography and English Literature from 1968 to 1973 at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg and the New University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. Back in Erlangen, he took his state exams for higher secondary education in 1973, completed his doctorate in Geography in 1976 and qualified as a university lecturer in 1983 with his post-doctoral thesis and other writings in social geographic studies on developments in rural and nomadic areas.[1] He was appointed Professor in Erlangen. In 1993 he changed to the University of Mainz.

Since the mid-1990s he started an intense networking activity organizing the cooperation of Institutes of Oriental studies and orientalists on a national, European and global level.

He headed the first World Congress on Studies of the Middle East in 2002 (WOCMES) in Mainz. The congress attracted about 2.100 scientists from 68 countries, and 126 journalists from all parts of the world.[2]

In 2010 the executive board of WOCMES appointed Meyer again for president. In 2014 he was reelected unanimously for a fourth term of office.[3]

In 2014 he was awarded the Jere L. Bacharach Service Award by the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA).Meyer was the first European honoured with this award. The award certificate mentioned Meyer's tireless efforts to improve communication and interaction between previously separated, different areas of European scholarship: "This award honors his vision and skill in establishing new institutional networks to the benefit of scholars around the world."[2][4]

As the chairman of the World Congress of Middle Eastern Studies, Meyer was also in charge of the world congresses in Amman/Jordan, in Barcelona and in Ankara in August 2014.

Positions

War in Syria

As early as 2012 Meyer attracted attention putting forward his view on the external roots of the conflicts within Syria. He saw a massive and abusive outside interference into inner-Syrian affairs. Western powers seemed to be mainly concerned with extinguishing the "Iran-Hezbolla axis". According to Meyer, thousands of mujaheddin had been flown in, because the CIA was intending to initiate a civil war to weaken Syria. The media were ignoring the fact, Meyer said, that the majority of the population was still preferring Assad as head of government.[5]

With regard to the Civil War in Syria Meyer, from the very beginning expressed himself against all endeavors to remove president Bashar al-Assad from office. Before the Russian military intervention, he expressed a rather positive view on the Russian role in the conflict.

Meyer has repeatedly blamed US foreign politics towards Iraq as a main reason for the emergence of Daesh: "Without acting against International Law, without the wrong decision taken by Bremer, and without consciously accepting that a Salafi territory might emerge in Syria's eastern parts, with the CIA even considering giving support, it would have never been possible for ISIS to develop into a global threat." Giving his view on the consequences of a possible overthrow of president Assad, he referred to a widely known slogan in Syria: „Christians to the Lebanon, the Alawites to the grave". According to Meyer, this slogan indicates the imminent dangers for the regions still controlled by the regime. In February 2016 Meyer presented his view on plans to depose Assad as early as 2001. In 2006 news had been leaked, that the regime should be "destabilized" by instigating ethnic antagonism. The strategy of supplying weapons the so-called temperate rebel opposition via Libya and Turkey had faltered, because, according to Meyer, those rebels had allied themselves with extremist forces. Turkey was supporting IS willing to do everything possible to prevent the emergence of a Kurdish state. Deposing Assad would cause chaos in Syria, to the sole advantage of extremists. Meyer saw the politics of Russia towards Syria as constructive, he ruled out the possibility of Russia's intentionally intensify immigration towards Europe. The target of the Russian government was getting back control of part the country.

In a public debate in June 2016 Meyer expressed doubts about a smooth transition of power in case the Assad regime was dissolved. Two military groups, Al-Nusra and IS, could not have a share in power, also the remaining militias had a salafist or radically islamistic outlook, often hostile against each other, only united temporarily by the common enemy Assad.

Functions and Memberships

Awards

Private Life

Günter Meyer is the father of German cabaret artist Inka Meyer.

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Ländliche Lebens- und Wirtschaftsformen Syriens im Wandel. Sozialgeograph. Studien zur Entwicklung im bäuerlichen und nomadischen Lebensraum (= Erlanger geographischen Arbeiten. Sonderband 16). 1984, ISBN 3-920405-58-7.
  2. 1 2 KG, VRM GmbH & Co. "Mainzer Geograph Günter Meyer bleibt Vorstandsvorsitzender des Orient-Weltkongresses".
  3. ↑
    //www.allgemeine-zeitung.de/lokales/mainz/nachrichten-mainz/mainzer-geograph-guenter-meyer-bleibt-vorstandsvorsitzender-des-orient-weltkongresses_14312830.htm
  4. ↑ Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität. "Günter Meyer erhält Jere L. Bacharach Service Award für Vernetzung der internationalen Orientforschung". www.uni-mainz.de.
  5. ↑ Peter van Dorren (25 January 2012). "Die Wahrheit über Syrien - Univ. Prof. Dr. Günter Meyer im Bayern2-Interview" – via YouTube.
  6. ↑ "Günter Meyer receives 2014 Jere L. Bacharach Service Award". EurekAlert!.
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