Day: November 22, 2017

Academics for Peace in North America call for solidarity:

“Violations of academic freedom and freedom of speech in Turkey have reached a dire situation.  The intimidations from Turkish government and its affiliates toward academics have escalated to legal action, whereby peace signatory academics face 7.5 years’ imprisonment if convicted for “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.”

In January 2016, 1128 academics signed the Peace Petition, titled ‘We Will Not Be A Party To This Crime’ in order to draw the public’s attention to the brutal acts of violence perpetrated by the state in the Kurdish regions of Turkey.  Immediately after the release of the petition, many signatories were prosecuted, dismissed from their posts, and their citizenship rights were seized. A large number of academics including Nobel Prize laureates and members of major science academies around the world initiated a support campaign nationally and internationally. People from different professions, such as journalists, artists, screen actors and actresses, and writers voiced their support for the persecuted academics. More people signed the petition, yet the suppression on the signatory academics got fiercer; hundreds of more academics were dismissed with statutory decrees, their passports were confiscated, they were banned from public sector employment, and criminal investigations were launched. Many of those academics had to leave the country and are now facing extreme difficulties in re-settling their lives and professions. One of the signatory academics –Mehmet Fatih Traş– could not stand this injustice and committed suicide. The declaration of state of emergency in July 2016 after a military coup attempt further blurred the distinction between criminal investigations and political punishment, and opened an arduous and painful avenue for not only the academics but also for journalists, writers, teachers, artists and others who demand freedom of speech in Turkey.

The signatory academics abroad have recently initiated a targeted boycott towards the Turkish higher education system, and its complicit universities. The aim of the academic boycott is to ensure that all dismissals are revoked and the persecution of academics, exacerbated under the state of emergency regime, is ended. To this boycott, and continuous struggle of Academics for Peace, the government recently responded by a harsher strategy: signatory academics are sued on an individual basis based on the accusation of terror propaganda according to the Turkish Anti-Terror Act, Article 7/2. The public prosecutor proposes imprisonment extending to 7.5 years. The number of academics with indictments is increasing day by day, and their trials start on December 5, 2017.

Since the petition, one of the most important acts of support for the academics who demanded peace has been the solidarity from colleagues who are not content with Turkey’s oppressive regime and its fatal actions on freedom of speech. In this new turn, we are well aware that we will need a stronger voice of resistance and call for justice! This solidarity can be through standing by us in the court hearings starting December 5, 2017, sending monitoring teams, observers, and news-makers; spreading the word and raising the awareness for what is happening now in Turkey regarding the academics.

In order to stand in solidarity with the persecuted academics, we, the peace academics from North America, call on you to:

1. Share and spread this call for solidarity; show your solidarity by following the trials, commenting on them in your blogs, social media and/or writing a news article. For more info on the latest attacks on academics in Turkey, please visit https://barisicinakademisyenler.net/ or http://mesana.org/pdf/Turkey20171017.pdf
2. Contact bakuluslararasi@gmail.com if you want to attend the trials as an observer, or write to a human rights organization to send a delegate;
3. Sign the petition https://academicboycottofturkey.wordpress.com/petition/ to support the targeted boycott on complicit universities in Turkey;
4. Inform your professional organizations and university senate to take action against complicit institutions, such as The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK; tubitak.gov.tr/en);
5. Support dismissed scholars financially by donating to the education union that supports them https://www.youcaring.com/academicsforpeaceinturkey-763983 “

Below are the 10 FAQs about the ‘what’s, ‘why’s and ‘how’s of the most recent call that we extend to the international academic community to support the academics in Turkey who have been encountering a variety of increasingly repressive measures just because they asked for peace.

 

1- What is it now?

Now, it is about the series of lawsuits against the academics on an individual basis. Because the academics had signed the Peace Petition that went public in January 2016 they are sued within the scope of the Law on Struggle Against Terror (TMK 7/2). Read The Bill of Indictment.

 

2- Are the academics involved in any terroristic activities?

No. The academics had just asked for peace. (Read the petition)

 

3- Are all the signatories sued?

No. As of November 20, 2017, less than 10% of the signatories (2212) were sued. But the fact that the number increases on a daily basis is telling about the state of affairs.

 

4- So, is there a specific reason for the selection of certain signatory academics?

No. It is totally arbitrary.

 

5- Why is this happening in Turkey?

This incessant repression on academics who stand for peace in Turkey is certainly related to the specificities of the political state of affairs in the country. But limitations on academic freedom is not restricted to Turkey. Different forms of authoritarianism are on the rise globally.

Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur.

 

6- Why should I care about the lawsuits against the academics in Turkey?

Because they are your colleagues, and because their rights are violated.

Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur.

 

7- Why should I worry about it?

Once the breach on academic freedom and/or freedom of speech is tolerated in any context academic freedom and/or freedom of speech comes under risk at a global level. So, the breach is everyone’s business, and the business of each of us.

Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur.

 

8- How can I support?

• Sign the boycott petition
• Contact your colleagues, institutions, unions, rights-based organizations to publicize the truth about the facts of academic life in Turkey.
• Monitor the lawsuits wherever and however you can.
• Contact the relevant organizations to ensure that they monitor, too.
• Financially support the peace academics through the existing solidarity campaign

 

9- So, is there an optimistic scenario out of this?

Continuing with growing solidarity is a reason for optimism on its own.

 

10- Where can I get more information?

You can email bakuluslararasi@gmail.com and read The Call for Solidarity of Peace Academics