Dayanışma / Solidarity

8h45. Un petit groupe de personnes se rassemble sur l’Esplanade dominée par l’imposant Palais de Justice d’Istanbul. On se salue, on discute des derniers événements émaillant les audiences presque quotidiennes des signataires de la pétition des Académiques pour la Paix. Ce mardi, une condamnation inédite a été prononcée : en plus des désormais habituels 15 mois de prison, une signataire de la pétition a été condamnée à rendre visite à la famille d’un militaire tué lors d’une attaque du PKK (Adal, 2019).

More than 1,800 academics from around the world, including Noam Chomsky and Judith Butler, have signed an open letter in support of Prof. Füsun Üstel and all other Academics for Peace, facing imprisonment for having signed the peace declaration.

Over 1,800 academics from around the world have made a call for Academics for Peace, who have been dismissed from universities and have been facing imprisonment for having signed the declaration entitled "We will not be a party to this crime."

Around three years after the petition "We Will Not Be a Party to this Crime!" was published, the repression of researchers by the Turkish authorities has taken on a new dimension. 

On 3 March 2019, the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice announced its first decision on an appeal against academics for signing the “We will not be party to this crime!” (Bu Suça Ortak Olmayacağız) peace petition prepared by Academics for Peace (Barış için Akademisyenler). In this ruling, the Court upheld an imprisonment sentence of one year and three months for Zübeyde Füsun Üstel, a political scientist retired from Galatasaray University. This ruling is the first to have exhausted all local remedies.

Political scientist Füsun Üstel, a professor who retired from Galatasaray University in Istanbul, was among the first of 1,128 [2212] scholars to undergo trial for having signed the Academics for Peace Petition, a letter publicized in January 2016 that denounced the Turkish state's violation of the basic rights to life, liberty, and security of civilians in Kurdish cities. Üstel was also the first academic to refuse the legal provision the courts offer when prison sentences are less than two years.

La Conférence des Présidents d’Université française (CPU) vient d’être informée de la situation de Madame Füsun Üstel, Professeure de Sciences politiques à l’Université de Galatasaray, aujourd’hui à la retraite, qui vient d’être condamnée à 15 mois de prison ferme pour avoir signé en 2016 une pétition en faveur de la paix avec 1127 autres universitaires turcs.

BHRC has issued a public statement expressing serious concern at the recent arrests by Turkish authorities of academics and activists. The arrests appear consistent with a sustained attack on dissent as a means of silencing critical voices within Turkey.

The Organizing Committee of the Graduate Workers of Columbia University – UAW Local 2110 severely condemns the Turkish government’s continued assault on dissenting voices amongst Turkish faculty and students, and stand in solidarity with the signatories of the January 2016 Peace Petition now facing a fresh round of criminal indictments. Read our full statement here: