The critics say they are circulating their petition now because the Turkish government is in the process of helping to endow three more professorships. The institutions must match that amount to receive the contribution. Officials at all three say efforts to raise matching funds have begun. The critics say they fear that Turkey will try to influence who is selected to fill those new chairs, as they allege it did at Princeton. It focused primarily on Mr. Lowry, who did not respond to the article.
Turkish officials deny that they try to influence any of the selection processes.
We don't interfere. It's up to them. Mr. Lowry was selected for the Princeton chair from about 20 candidates drawn from a national search, said Abraham Udovitch, a professor in the Near Eastern studies department who served on the search committee. He is someone who is very able. He is a leading expert in Turkish studies and a master of Turkish.