[This article, by Elif Ince, was published in the Turkish newspaper Radikalon 13 June. It was written in part as a response to an article published by the pro-government newspaper Yeni Şafak on 10 June, in which Jadaliyya was accused of leading the wave of critical analysis and conspiracy against the Turkish government. The article was translated from Turkish by Emrah Yildiz. Following the article is the rough text of the interview conducted with Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad, and the original text of the Radikal interview in Turkish]
The Foreign Conspirators of the Gezi Park Speak Up
By Elif Ince, Radikal
Under today’s headline of choice, “The Devil’s Triangle,” Yeni Şafak newspaper accused Jadaliyya, an internet-based news feed published in English and Arabic, of conspiring to alter the Gezi Park demonstrations into one that would topple the Turkish government by “transforming them [the demonstrations] into a Turkish Spring, everything being under the sponsorship of George Soros and Georgetown University.” It was also among Yeni Safak’s allegations that Jadaliyya presented to the world what was happening in Turkey in the “most immediate, and most detailed fashion” and that Jadaliyya was “ruling over the reception of Turkey by the world’s media.”
We have asked Jadaliyya editors, authors, and readers about the Gezi Park actions and the allegations, and about Jadaliyya itself, which has become a popular source of receiving news about the Middle East over the course of the last two years. The co-editor, Bassam Haddad, confirms that they have received funding from the Open Society Institute, but notes that these are grants that everyone could apply for, and that the source of their funds does not affect or color the editorial independence of Jadaliyya. Jadaliyya’s editors are clearly unaware of the “foreign-alliances” paranoia of Turkey, and they are surprised and in awe!
“Dirty Alliance”
According to the Yeni Safak article, whose author remains unidentified:
“The dirty alliance, forged on the Beirut-Istanbul-Washington line, with foregin media, finance, and academic circles in participation, is becoming more de-classified and decoded every day. Jadaliyya, which has been fanatically feeding the world news about what was happening first and foremost in Istanbul, but also in other parts of Turkey, in the institutional media wing of the Arab Studies Institute of Georgetown University [sic]. The financier behind Jadaliyya, which claims to be a not-for-profit site, is, however, none other than the famous speculator and founder of the Open Society Institute, George Soros—the same name behind the ‘Orange Revolutions’ that started in Ukraine in 2004, and continued in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. Published as a monthly [sic], and carrying a 1.5 million sales in numbers, the internet site of the journal is supported by a great number of Middle Eastern and Western academics and activists. Even in its very first news reports on the demonstrations, Jadaliyya not only dubbed them as ‘Turkish Revolution’ and ‘Turkish Spring,’ but also generously featured the ugliest adjectives describing Erdoğan, ones that even the demonstrators against him did not dare to mouth.”
“They Have Really Overestimated Us...”
Bassam Haddad, one of the editors at Jadaliyya, commented on the Yeni Safak article published along with his picture: “It is almost comical what was written about Jadaliyya . . . [t]hey have really overestimated us!”
According to Haddad:
“There are so many factual errors in the article that I don't know where to begin. For instance, I am not THE "Editor" of Jadaliyya, I am one of seventeen Co-Editors, and, as far as I know, I am not involved in any conspiracies to bring down any government, nor have the power or capacity to brainwash my colleagues and "invited" scholars to ASI. Finally, Jadaliyya is not a hard-copy magazine that sells "1.5 million" copies. It's a website!”
“Every week over three hundred thousand readers [unique visitors] visit our site. On the site we publish daily analyses, and our aim is to serve as a bridge between journalism and academia. The site is run by seventeen academics. Institutionally independent since 1992, we are a part of the Arab Studies Institute. The Open Society Institute as well as the Social Science Research Council are among the providers of grants, but they are partial [grants] and open for everyone to apply for. These funds do not have any editorial effect on our independence, as we do not have taboos. We are solely responsible for everything we publish. Since the inception of the project, we always wanted to emphasize working with local authors. We publish in Arabic, English, and French. We run articles on politics, history, economy, gender and sexuality, culture, art . . . ”
[sic] “We are banned in Syria. We are also not seen under a positive light by the governments of Jordan and Egypt. Nor are we seen under a better light by pro-Israel groups. And because we vehemently oppose the policies of the United States administration in the region, we have been heavily criticized by its supporters. That said, however, we have been never exposed to such far-reaching and hysterical accusations. The claim that we have triggered the Arab uprisings first and subsequently what people live now in Turkey is just laughable. But I can say that we are responsible for World War I!”
“Jadaliyya Was Among the First to Examine and Critique the Term ‘Arab Spring’”
The author of one of Jadaliyya’s first articles about Gezi Park, Jay Cassano, comments that after having lived in Istanbul for two years and worked as a free-lance journalist, he became interested in issues of urban renewal. His interest intensified, especially after having watched the documentary Ekümenopolis, which tells the story of Istanbul’s transformation. He followed the recent history of Gezi Park’s lived realities in his article, entitled “The Right to the City Movement and the Turkish Summer,” published on 1 June 1 on Jadaliyya. He recounts, in his article, how the police have intervened in the protests at the demolition of the Emek Movie Theater and also against those who wanted to enter Taksim Square on 1 May for May Day celebrations. He mentions theThird Bosporus Bridge and analyzes the demonstration under the prism of “the right to the city.” Cassano states, “Since 2011, I have followed Jadaliyya, because it has published reliable and in-depth analyses and news on the Middle East. They usually avoid the clichés and pitfalls that mainstream English-language media most often resort to. Actually, Jadaliyya was the first to question and critique the term ‘Arab Spring’ while reporting on what has been happening in the Arab world.” Cassano also adds that Jadaliyya could have been picked as a target for its coverage of “the Kurdish problem.”
“Its unique quality is its avant-garde stance,” says Nazan Üstündağ, an assistant professor at Boğaziçi University’s Sociology department, whose observations on the Gezi Park resistance, penned for the Turkey-based daily Gündem, have been translated into English and published on Jadaliyya. Üstündağ adds, “I have been following Jadaliyya for the past few years. I started to follow the Arab revolutions. Both because it is half-academic, and because it is a fast-moving newsfeed, I use it a lot. Its unique quality is its avant-garde nature. It has covered the Arab revolutions with their artistic and electronic media dimensions.”