International solidarity is crucial at this time when our colleagues are facing criminal trials.
In an open letter to the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul, HRK President Professor Dr Horst Hippler has expressed strong criticism of the prosecution of a large group of Turkish academics, whose trials are scheduled to begin this week.
Las violaciones de la libertad académica y la libertad de expresión en Turquía han llegado a una situación calamitosa. Las intimidaciones del gobierno turco y sus partidarios hacia los académicos han escalado a acciones legales, según las cuales los académicos signatarios de la paz enfrentan 7,5 años de prisión si son condenados por "propaganda para una organización terrorista".
ARTICLE 19 calls for the charges to be immediately dropped against all the signatories of the “Academics for Peace” petition and for anti-terror legislation to be reformed in line with international human rights standards.
Brussels
5 December 2017
PRESS RELEASE
Commenting on the hearings starting today by Turkey’s Penal Court against more than a thousand academics, the European Green Party co-chairs Monica Frassoni and Reinhard Bütikofer said:
“The Turkish judiciary perseveres in its persecution of opposition leaders, civil society representatives and academics, in what seems a purge against all voices that are not perfectly aligned with the government.
‘Terrorist Propaganda’ Charge Stifles Free Speech
The decision to prosecute scores of academics for signing a January 2016 petition criticizing the Turkish government’s actions in southeastern Turkey seriously violates the right to free speech and academic freedom, Human Rights Watch said today. The charges are also a misuse of terrorism laws.
Eğitim Sen, Türk Tabipleri Birliği ve Sağlık ve Sosyal Hizmet Emekçileri Sendikası, yarın yargılanmalarına başlanacak akademisyenlerle ilgili ortak açıklama yaptı.
İstanbul Tabip Odasında gerçekleştirilen basın toplantısına, Eğitim Sen Genel Başkanı Feray Aytekin Aydoğan, TTB Merkez Konseyi Başkanı Prof. Dr. Raşit Tükel, SES Eş Genel Başkanı Gönül Erdem, DİSK Genel Sekreteri Arzu Çerkezoğlu, HDK Eş sözcüsü Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit, uluslararası sendikalar ve meslek örgütleri ve birçok akademisyen katıldı.
The penal case against the signers of the Academics for Peace petition is a shocking miscarriage of justice, which friends of the Turkish people can only view with dismay. The wording of the indictment, throughout, makes it clear that the case is an assault against fundamental rights of free expression that should be zealously safeguarded. To take only one example, the signers are accused of calling on the government “to lift the curfew, punish those who are responsible for human rights violations, and compensate those citizens who have experienced material an
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 27, 2017
NEW YORK—The arbitrary use of judicial power in targeting signatories of the January 2016 Academics for Peace petition is the latest in a long series of legal charges filed against civil society actors by authorities, and demonstrates the Turkish government’s ongoing campaign to silent dissent in all its forms.
Ocak 2016’da “Barış İçin Akademisyenler” imzası ile yayımlanan “Bu Suça Ortak Olmayacağız!” bildirisi nedeniyle, aralarında odamız mensubu meslektaşlarımızın da bulunduğu imzacı pek çok akademisyen, sırf demokratik ifade özgürlüğü haklarını kullandıkları için hukuk dışı uygulamalarla işten çıkarıldı, yandaş medyada estirilen yoğun bir linç kampanyası eşliğinde üniversitelerinden uzaklaştırıldı ya da baskı altına alınarak istifaya zorlandı.
The situation for academics in Turkey has dramatically worsened since the failed coup on July 15, a matter of increasing importance given the investigations, firings, deportations, trials, and detentions of academics even prior to the coup. In January of this year, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had already stretched the term “terrorist” enough to apply it to over one thousand members of Academics for Peace for publishing a petition. This threat to academics was foreshadowed in previous attacks on journalists and opposition lawmakers.
We write on behalf of 207 health professionals, academics, and researchers, and 25 health and human rights organisations from many countries (appendix). We wish to bring to the attention of The Lancet's readers alarming events taking place in Turkey, where the state has been waging a campaign of terror and punishment against thousands of health professionals and academics.
Full article: http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)32093-7.pdf
As participants in the Prague conference “Philosophy & Social Science” who consider themselves part of the tradition of critical theory we express our deep concern about our colleagues in Turkey who have been dismissed by executive decrees without due process and legal recourse. We extend our solidarity to all persecuted academics and specifically to Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça who are on an indefinite hunger strike in protest of the injustice they have experienced.
