In January last year, more than 2,000 academics, mostly Turks, petitioned the Turkish parliament calling for an end to what they said was the “deliberate planned massacre” and “deportation of Kurdish people” since the resumption of conflict with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatists the previous July.
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.
Istanbul Chief Prosecutor indicts academics on trumped-up terrorism charges for signing peace declaration. An indictment has been issued for academics from several universities who have signed the peace declaration named “We will not be a party to this crime”. The academics are being charged with “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” and are facing 7,5 years of imprisonment. The indictments are being filed by Istanbul Public Chief Prosecutor’s Office. The exact number of academics who are all charged with the same indictment but on an individual basis.
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.
Barış İçin Akademisyenlerle Dayanışma Çağrısı
Scholars charged with terrorism offences almost two years after signing anti-war petition
Turkish academics who signed an anti-war petition could face up to seven-and-a-half years in prison after new charges were filed against them.
Almost two years after 1,128 people signed what has become known as the "Academics for Peace" petition in January 2016, which condemned military action in south-east Turkey, several of its signatories have been told they will face charges of “propagandising for a terrorist organisation”.
Barış için Akademisyenler Grubu Hukuk Komisyonundan Avukat Meriç Eyüboğlu: Bir iddianamede karşılaşmamızın absürt olduğu durumla karşı karşıyayız
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
