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Last week Prof. Baskın Oran came to Bilkent for a conference on nation-states. The event was the first part of the "Kutsal Değerler” conference series organized by Bilkent Kültür ve Iletişim Topluluğu.
Prof. Baskın Oran, a part time lecturer at the European Union Research and Application Center and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is now giving lectures about “Nationalism, Globalization and Minorities” at Ankara University. Nationalism, minorities, Turkish foreign policy and government-religion relationships are also some issues in Prof. Oran's field of interest. He was also a columnist for Tempo, Yüzyıl and Aydınlık magazines until 2000.
At the conference, Prof. Oran examined the nation-state and unitary state by using the concepts federal state, assimilation and ethnic-religious purification. He explained these concepts by giving examples from the historical development of France, Turkey and the Ottoman Empire.
“The current problems of Turkey are the consequences of the rapid modernization process,” said Prof. Oran in summarizing the modern developments of Turkey since 1923.
“Prof. Oran shared his different ideology and destroyed some taboos,” said Erkan Eroğlu, head of Bilkent’s Kültür Iletişim Topluluğu. “I think that made people surprised and that is a good point to start thinking multi-directionally. It was a mind-broadening experience.”
İdil Damla Bingöl (IE/II)
Bilkent News
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