This is a remarkable attempt to undermine academic freedom in #Ireland and on the flimsiest of pretexts
Attempts by emissaries of #Georgia and #Ukraine to dictate how we teach/research @DCU have been and will continually to be firmly rebuffed
rte.ie/radio1/this-we…
In response to @rtenews the Ukrainian embassy dismiss suggestions they tried to attack academic freedom as "emotional" and "groundless"
So let me post some extracts from the letter sent to DCU and Department of Foreign Affairs
Judge for yourself
rte.ie/news/ireland/2…
The individual described as a "well-known Russian propagandist" is Prof Sergey Markedonov, probably the leading authority in Russia on conflicts in the Caucasus
A Visiting Fellow at @CSIS in Washington DC for several years I was delighted Prof Markedonov accepted my invitation
The very next week we had a distinguished guest from Ukraine, Prof Hanna Shelest
We then had guests from other post-Soviet states
The module is called "Russia and the Former Soviet Space" but if the GE/UKR diplomats had their way the only view we wouldn't get is from Russia
No country has been afforded more access to the module than #Georgia.
I've invited several guest professors from #Georgia, including former diplomats
I've also extended invitations to current Georgian Ambassador who penned the letter to DCU and DFA
#Georgian professors and former diplomats in the presence of the current ambassador (seated front row) have been afforded privileged access to students
Yet the letter penned by the same Ambassador presents a picture of students being indoctrinated on a diet of Kremlin propaganda
As for #Ukraine I organised largest event in Ireland devoted to the conflict
Speakers included former President of Poland (1995-2005) Aleksander Kwaśniewski (also then EU envoy to Ukraine) and Andrey Shevchenko (now Ukraine's Ambassador to Canada).
See dcu.ie/news/news/2015…
The event was opened by the then Ambassador of #Ukraine to #Ireland, Sergii Reva.
The conference is still praised on the Ukraine embassy website (the then Ambassador thanks me personally in the first line of his speech)
ireland.mfa.gov.ua/en/news/3469-v…
https://t.co/KusLA99D1R
There's more! At our @IICRR conference opened by the #Ukraine Ambassador, the speaker from #Russia was ...
the very same Prof Markedonov whose lecture this semester prompted embassys intervention
And yet our event was praised by Ukrainian Ministry for Foreign Affairs website
It gets better. The current #Georgian Ambassador who penned the letter to DCU and DFA attended this conference and engaged with Prof Markedonov
Rather than accusing me/DCU of spreading #Russian propaganda by hosting Makedonov, Ambassador lavishly praised the conference
Our conference received widespread coverage. My own position on the conflict in #Ukraine was articulated clearly ... does this sound like a Kremlin apologist?
independent.ie/videos/irish-n…
In every international project I've organised/ participated there has been #Georgian and/or #Ukrainian partners/beneficiaries.
I've hosted many GEO and UKR professors hosted via Erasmus+.
I worked in education reform in #Georgia for years and continue to develop new links.
Last year I organised an event in DCU to provide a platform for the #Georgian ambassador and #Ukrainian chargé d'affaires to speak to 70 students (postponed due to COVID)
This kind of cooperation was always acknowledged.
What caused that to change I'll never understand.
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