The Executive Committee of the Academic Council at Duke University expresses its deep concern about the prison sentence issued in Turkey to Dr. Ayşe Gül Altinay. An internationally-renowned professor at Sabanci University, Dr. Altinay received her doctorate in Cultural Anthropology from Duke in 2001.
Dr. Altinay was sentenced last week to 25 months in prison on the charge of “knowingly and willingly aiding a terrorist organization as a non-member” by the Istanbul 25th Heavy Penal Court. The sentencing of Dr. Altinay appears to be part of what Amnesty International describes as an ongoing campaign by Turkish authorities “to crack down on dissent and maintain a climate of fear.”
An admired teacher and influential scholar, Dr. Altinay is noted for her commitment to a peaceful future for her country shaped by nonviolence, democracy, and a commitment to human equality. We call upon the Turkish courts to reverse Dr. Altinay’s conviction and to protect the rights of academic inquiry and democratic freedom.
Don Taylor
Chair of Academic Council & Professor of Public Policy
and Kerry Haynie, Chair-elect of Academic Council and Associate Professor of Political Science and African and African-American Studies
Ellen F. Davis, Amos Ragan Kearns Professor, Divinity School
Mark Anthony Neal, James B. Duke Professor, African and African-American Studies
Victoria Szabo, Associate Research Professor, Art, Art History & Visual Studies
Lisa Keister, Professor, Sociology
Erika Weinthal, Lee Hill Snowdon Professor, Nicholas School of the Environment
Larry Zelenak, Pamela B. Gann Professor, Law School
Source: https://academiccouncil.duke.edu/sites/default/files/u19/Altinay%20Suppo...