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Starting with the publication of an ‘Academics for Peace’ petition in January 2016, and further increasing after the attempted coup in July 2016, large numbers of state employees in Turkey have suffered dismissal or other sanctions without due process. Among them are several thousands of academics. Many Turkish universities have actively collaborated in the implementation of these government measures against their employees. Under its Human Rights Policy, Ghent University considers such universities as (co-)perpetrators of serious human rights violations.

Füsun Üstel, respected academic in history, nationalism and issues of identity, is the first of the Academics for Peace to be imprisoned for signing the “We will not be party to this crime!” petition. This ruling will likely influence the pending cases of other  Academics for Peace. Despite the threat of imprisonment, Üstel stood up for her belief that condemning human rights violations or calling for peace is not a crime.

Ayse Gül Altinay, Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Gender and Women’s Studies Center at Sabanci University in Istanbul, Turkey, was one of the cooperation partners of Women’s Museum Istanbul to organise the the first Asian and European conference of women’s museums “Feminist Pedagogy: Museums, Memory Sites, Practices of Remembrance” in Istanbul in October 2018.

Following the ongoing prosecution of academics in Turkey, whose only crime is to wish for a future without violence, we sent a letter to the Turkish Ambassador in Israel, The Turkish Ministries of Justice and Education and to other institutions demanding an end to the judicial harassment against the members of Barış İçin Akademisyenler / Academics for Peace (full letter in comments).