TURKEY - Turkey's first 'virus-free' university campus opens its doors [Daily Sabah, February 2022]

Title:

Turkey's first 'virus-free' university campus opens its doors

 

By:

Daily Sabah with IHA 

Published:

Daily Sabah, 22 February 2022

https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/education/turkeys-first-virus-free-university-campus-opens-its-doors

From the article:

Turkey's first "virus-free" university campus has been introduced in Istanbul to maintain face-to-face education while reducing the spread of COVID-19 on Tuesday. Doğuş University's Ataşehir Dudullu campus, equipped with ultraviolet C (UVC) ray technology opened its doors to its students, leaving the pandemic behind the fences.

 

TURKEY - Political science in the age of populism: perspectives from Turkey [Scholarly Article - European Political Science, January 2021]

Title:

Political science in the age of populism: perspectives from Turkey 

 

Authors:

Duygu Ersoy & Jülide Karakoç 

Altınbaş University, Buyukdere cad. No: 147, Esentepe Istanbul, 34394, Turkey

 

Published:

European Political Science, Volume 20, 19 January 2021

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41304-020-00310-w

 

Abstract:

This article discusses the impact of political transformations on political science in Turkey during the Justice and Development Party (AKP) period from 2002 to the present, with a particular focus on the experiences of political scientists. After first taking power and in accordance with its concerns about attaining domestic and international legitimacy, AKP launched a democratization process by implementing several reforms leading toward EU membership. During this process, the boundaries of politics were broadened, enabling political discussion of certain taboo topics. However, this trend was reversed after AKP’s authoritarian populist tendencies strengthened. The party’s growing anti-intellectualist stance has also made scholars the target of the government’s populist discourse. These circumstances make it critical to examine the challenges Turkey’s political scientists experience since their discipline is directly influenced by the boundaries of what is political. This study therefore explores these challenges through ten in-depth interviews conducted with political scientists. It finds that political scientists mostly engage in self-censorship to protect themselves under Turkey’s populist authoritarian atmosphere, which has narrowed down in-class discussion and research agendas leading to the impoverishment of the discipline in Turkey.

 

A Survey of Attitudes, Anxiety Status, and Protective Behaviors of the University Students During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Turkey [Scholarly Article - Frontiers in Psychiatry, 15 July 2020]

Title:

A Survey of Attitudes, Anxiety Status, and Protective Behaviors of the University Students During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Turkey

 

Authors:

Gulsum Akdeniz, Mariam Kavakci, Muharrem Gozugok, Semiha Yalcinkaya, Alper Kucukay & Bilal Sahutogullari

 

Published:

Frontiers in Psychiatry, 15 July 2020 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00695/full

 

From the artciel:

A new coronavirus disease began on 31 December 2019 in Wuhan/China and has caused a global outbreak in only a few months resulting in millions being infected. In conjunction with its’ physical side effects, this outbreak also has a tremendous impact on psychology health. This study aims to assess the spread and frequency of protective behaviors, emotional and anxiety status among the Turkish population using a rapid survey during the COVID-19 outbreak. An online questionnaire was administered to 3,040 respondents between the ages of 18–30. This cross-sectional study was conducted from Apr 2 to Apr 8, 2020. While questions related to the outbreak were created by members of our neuroscience department, the Turkish version of the Abbreviated Beck Anxiety Inventory was included in our survey to measure anxiety status. Pearson correlation coefficient was used for statistical analysis. We found that 90% of respondents report washing hands more frequently since the outbreak while %50 wear protective gloves. Respondents were more fearful of their relatives catching the coronavirus disease than they were of themselves catching it. In response to the question, “What are your emotions about the coronavirus?”, 38% responded with “worried”. There was a significant correlation between anxiety status and consumption information from the media about COVID-19. Individual early protection behaviors might slow transmission of the outbreak. Our results showed that the behavior of the participants has changed in predictable ways during the COVID-19 outbreak. Understanding how emotional responses such as fear and anxiety status vary and the specific factors that mediate it may help with the design of outbreak control strategies.

Turkish scientists and physicians face criminal investigations after criticizing COVID-19 policies [Science, 16 September 2020]

Title:
Turkish scientists and physicians face criminal investigations after criticizing COVID-19 policies

Author:
Kristen McTighe

Published:
Science, 16 September 2020
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/09/turkish-scientists-and-physicians-face-criminal-investigations-after-criticizing-covid

From the article:
In April, Kayıhan Pala, a prominent public health expert at Uludağ University in northwestern Turkey, was shocked to find himself the target of a criminal complaint. Pala, a member of the COVID-19 monitoring group of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), had given an interview to a local website and shared research that showed the number of cases and deaths from the coronavirus were much higher than the government had reported. The complaint, filed by the governor of the province of Bursa, accused him of “misinforming the public” and “causing panic.”

Scholarly Article (19 May 2020) - Academic (dis)qualifications of Turkish rectors: their career paths, H-index, and the number of articles and citations

Title:
Academic (dis)qualifications of Turkish rectors: their career paths, H-index, and the number of articles and citations

Author:
Engin Karadag

Published:
Higher Education, 19 May 2020
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-020-00542-1

From the abstract:
"In this study, the current rectors of 197 universities (127 public and 70 non-profit foundation universities) in Turkey were examined in terms of their sociodemographic characteristics, career development, and academic qualifications (the number of published articles and citations and H-index). The data were collected via a prosopograhical approach from the official websites of the universities and the presidents, as well as the Web of Science and Scopus databases. The findings suggest that the presidents may be classified into two groups based on their sociodemographic characteristics, career development, and academic qualifications."