Nell Gluckman
Henri J. Barkey, a Turkish professor
of international relations at Lehigh University, will no longer board a flight
that passes over the country where he was born, let alone land there, out of
fear that he’ll be arrested. He doesn’t speak to anyone in Turkey because he’s
worried they’ll face repercussions for associating with him.
“Only the people who have decided to
live here permanently and know they can't go back can open their mouth.”
Mr. Barkey, who is also director of
the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars, has taken those precautions since he was accused of helping to plot
an attempted coup last July that failed to overturn
the government of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Though he may never return to
Turkey, Mr. Barkey, who is also an American citizen, has decided to continue to
voice his criticism of the government there. He has written op-eds about
Turkish politics and the accusations against him in The Washington Post and The New York Times and has remained active on Twitter.
