Photo credit: New York Times
[On 10 January 2016, 1128 academics from Turkey and 356 from abroad signed a petition calling the Republic of Turkey to end ongoing violence and curfews affecting 1.5 million predominantly Kurdish citizens of Turkey. At a press conference the next day, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan denounced the letter as "treachery." By the end of the week, the government had launched 109 criminal investigations into academics based in Turkey. According to reports, the government arrested 33 academics who were later released.
The following statement was issued by a group of scholars of Turkish Studies and Ottoman History on 20 January 2016 in regards to concerns over academic freedoms and freedom of expression in Turkey.]
Statement for Academic Freedom In Turkey
Prof. Dr. Ahmet Davutoğlu, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey.
We, the undersigned professors of Turkish Studies and Ottoman History working at various universities throughout the world, from the USA to Asia, declare that we are profoundly concerned about the diminishing academic freedoms in Turkey. On 10 January 2016, 1128 academics from Turkey and 356 from abroad signed a petition calling the Republic of Turkey to end ongoing violence and curfews affecting 1.5 million predominantly Kurdish citizens of Turkey in seven cities in the eastern provinces and to return to negotiations with the Kurdish movement.
We consider this petition within the framework of freedom of expression and consider the criminalization of our fellow academics unacceptable. We are deeply worried about the campaigns by the political authorities accusing our colleagues of “treason” and “supporting terrorism” as well as investigations by the prosecutors and Turkish Higher Education Council (YÖK) against them. We, thereby, invite the Turkish political authorities, judiciary and YÖK to abide by the universal standards of academic freedom and freedom of expression.
We also remind the Turkish authorities that Turkey is a signatory of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Based on these conventions and, and more importantly, the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, the state is required to protect freedom of thought, expression, association, and assembly. Thereby, we ask the authorities of the Republic of Turkey to respect academic freedom and freedom of expression.
References
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/turkish-academics-pay-price-speaking-out-kurds
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/15/turkey-rounds-up-academics-who-signed-petition-denouncing-attacks-on-kurds
Signature list as of January 20, 2016
Prof. Dr. Daron Acemoglu – Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics, MIT, USA
Dr. Can Açıksöz – University of Arizona, USA
Dr. Iris Agmon – Ben Gurion University, Israel
Dr. Gabor J Agoston – Georgetown University, USA
Prof. Dr. Samim Akgonul – University of Strasbourg, France
Prof. Dr. Jun Akiba – Chiba University, Japan
Dr. Yigit Akin – Tulane University, USA
Dr. Karabekir Akkoyunlu – University of Graz, Austria
Prof. Dr. Virginia Aksan – McMaster University, Canada
Dr. Ayca Alemdaroglu – Associate Director of Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Program, Northwestern University, USA
Dr. Ece Algan – Director, Center for Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, California State University at San Bernardino, USA
Prof. Dr. Guillermo Algaze – University of California, San Diego, USA
Prof. Walter Andrews – University of Washington, USA
Dr. Sedef Arat-Koc – Ryerson University, Canada
Dr. Febe Armanios – Middlebury College, USA
Dr. Tuna Artun – Rutgers University, USA
Dr. Senem Aslan – Bates College, USA
Dr. Nurcan Atalan – Skidmore College, USA
Dr. Sabri Ateş – Southern Methodist University, USA
Dr. Marc Aymes – CNRS, France
Dr. Kathryn Babayan – University of Michigan, USA
Prof. Dr. Marc Baer – London School of Economics, UK
Dr. Ulas Bagci – University of Central Florida, USA
Dr. Onur Bakiner – Seattle University, USA
Prof. Asli Bali – University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Prof. Dr. Karl K. Barbir – Siena College, USA
Dr. Sami Bargaoui – University of La Manouba, Tunisia
Dr. Betul Basaran – St. Mary’s College, USA
Prof. Dr. Shahzad Bashir – Stanford University, USA
Dr. Birol Başkan – Georgetown University, USA
Dr. Sahar Bazzaz – College of the Holy Cross, USA
Prof. Dr. Joel Beinin – Donald J. McLaclan Professor of History, Stanford University, USA
Dr. Ceren Belge – Concordia University, Canada
Prof. Faruk Bilici – Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, France
Dr. Patricia Blessing – Society of Architectural Historians, USA
Dr. Grigor Boykov – CRSA, University of Sofia, Bulgaria
Prof. Dr. Hamit Bozarslan – EHESS, France
Prof. Dr. Sibel Bozdogan – Harvard University, USA
Dr. Marcy Brink-Danan – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Prof. Dr. Petra de Bruijn – Leiden University, Netherlands
Prof. Dr. Palmira Brummett – Brown University, USA
Dr. Guy Burak – New York University, USA
Dr. Rebecca Bryant – London School of Economics, UK
Dr. Michelle Campos – University of Florida, USA
Dr. Lale Can – City University of New York, USA
Dr. Giancarlo Casale – University of Minnesota, USA
Dr. Sinem Casale – University of Minnesota, USA
Prof. Dr. Ekrem Causevic – University of Zagreb
Dr. Erdem Çıpa – University of Michigan, USA
Dr. Natalie Clayer – CNRS-EHESS, France
Prof. Dr. Juan Cole – University of Michigan, USA
Prof. Dr. Howard Crane – Ohio State University, USA
Dr. Robert Crews – Stanford University, USA
Dr. Ferenc Csirkés – Tübingen University, Germany
Prof. Dr. Jocelyne Dakhlia – EHESS, France
Dr. Rosito D’Amora – University del Salento, Italy
Emeritus Prof. Robert Dankoff – University of Chicago, USA
Prof. Dr. Linda T. Darling – University of Arizona, USA
Dr. Yorgos Dedes – School of Oriental and African Studies, UK
Emerita Professor Dr. Carol Delaney – Stanford University, USA
Prof. Dr. Devin DeWeese – Indiana University, USA
Emeritus Professor Dr. Arif Dirlik – University of Oregon, USA
Prof. Dr. Beshara Doumani – Joukowsky Family Distinguished Professor of Modern Middle East History, Brown University, USA
Dr. Markus Dressler – University of Bayreuth, Germany Dr. Vera Eccarius-Kelly — Siena College, USA
Dr. Howard Eissenstat – St. Lawrence University, USA
Dr. Lerna Ekmecioglu – McMillan-Stewart Associate Professor of History, MIT, USA
Dr. Evrim Emir-Sayers – San Francisco State University, USA
Dr. Bogac Ergene – University of Vermont, USA
Prof. Carl Ernst – Kenan Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Dr. Sinem Eryilmaz, CSIC, Madrid, Spain
Dr. Tolga Esmer – Central European University, Hungary
Dr. Kristin Fabbe – Harvard University, USA
Prof. Dr. Khaled Fahmy – Harvard University, USA and American University in Cairo, Egypt
Dr. Heather Ferguson – Claremont McKenna College, USA
Dr. Emine Fetvaci – Boston University, USA
Emeritus Professor Dr. Carter Findley – Humanities Distinguished Professor in History, Ohio State University, USA
Prof. Dr. Cornell Fleischer – Kanuni Suleyman Professor of Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies, University of Chicago, USA
Dr. Benoit Fliche – CNRS, France
Prof. Dr. Ben Fortna – University of Arizona, USA
Dr. Elizabeth Frierson – University of Cincinnati, USA
Prof. Nancy Gallagher – University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
Dr. Pascale Ghazaleh – The American University in Cairo, Egypt
Prof. Dr. Fatma Muge Gocek – University of Michigan, USA
Dr. Banu Gokariksel – University of North Carolina, USA
Emeritus Professor Dr. Peter B. Golden – Rutgers University, USA
Dr. Rachel Goshgarian – Lafayette College, USA
Prof. Dr. Rossitsa Gradeva – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and American University in Bulgaria
Prof. Dr. Molly Greene – Princeton University, USA
Prof. Dr. Alexander H. de Groot – Leiden University, Netherlands
Dr. Mehmet Gurses – Florida Atlantic University, USA
Dr. Gottfried Hagen – University of Michigan, USA
Prof. Dr. Shirine Hamadeh – Rice University, USA
Prof. Dr. Jane Hathaway – Ohio State University, USA
Dr. Beatrice Hendrich – University of Cologne, Germany
Dr. David Henig – University of Kent, USA
Prof. Dr. Bernard Heyberger – Directeur d’études, EHESS, France
Prof. Dr. Colin Heywood – University of London, UK
Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Hurd – Northwestern University, USA
Dr. Asli Igsiz – New York University, USA
Prof. Dr. Colin Imber – University of Manchester, UK
Dr. Katharina Ivanyi – Columbia University, USA
Dr. Ralph Jaeckel – University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Prof. Dr. Cemal Kafadar – Vehbi Koç Professor of Turkish Studies, Harvard University, USA
Dr. Efthymia Kanner – University of Athens, Greece
Dr. Burcu Karahan, Stanford University, USA
Dr. Ayfer Karakaya-Stump – The College of William and Mary, USA
Prof. Dr. Ahmet T. Karamustafa – Maryland University, USA
Prof. Dr. Hakan Karateke – University of Chicago, USA
Prof. Dr. Resat Kasaba – Stanley D. Golub Professor of International Studies, University of Washington, USA
Dr. Dimitris Kastritsis, St. Andrews University, UK
Dr. Zeynep Kaya – London School of Economics, UK
Dr. Hasan Kayali – University of California, San Diego, USA
Dr. Michael Kemper – University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Dr. Zeynep Kezer – Newcastle University, UK
Prof. Dr. Dina Khoury – Elliot School of International Affairs and George Washington University, USA
Dr. Ilham Khuri-Makdisi – Northeastern University, USA
Prof. Dr. Hans-Lukas Kieser – University of New Castle, Australia
Dr. Ramazan Kilinc – University of Nebraska, USA
Dr. Mariya Kiprovska – CRSA, University of Sofia, Bulgaria
Dr. İpek Kocaomer Yosmaoğlu – Northwestern University, USA
Prof. Dr. Markus Koller – Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
Prof. Dariusz Kolodiejczyk – University of Warsaw and the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland; Honorary Member of Turkish Historical Society (TTK)
Dr. Elias Kolovos – University of Crete, Greece
Dr. Zeynep Korkman – University of Arizona, USA
Prof. Dr. Yavuz Kose – University of Hamburg, Germany
Dr. Tijana Krstic – Central European University, Hungary
Dr. Harun Kucuk – University of Pennsylvania, USA
Dr. Paul Kubicek – Oakland University, USA
Prof. Dr. Timur Kuran, Professor of Economics and Political Science and Gorter Family Professor of Islamic Studies, Duke University, USA
Dr. Vjeran Kursar – University of Zagreb, Croatia
Dr. Ahmet Kuru – San Diego State University, USA
Prof. Dr. Selim Sirri Kuru – University of Washington, USA
Dr. Paul Levin – Stockholm University, Sweden
Prof. Dr. Mark Levine – University of California, Irvine, USA
Dr. Darina Martykánová – Universidad Autonóma de Madrid, Spain
Prof. Dr. Mark Mazower, Columbia University, USA
Dr. Morgan Y. Liu – Ohio State University, USA
Prof. Dr. Beatrice F. Manz – Professor of History, Tufts University, USA
Professor Lenore G. Martin – Emmanuel College and Harvard University, USA
Dr. Elise Massicard – Sciences-Po CERI, France
Dr. Adam Mestyan – Society of Fellows, Harvard University, USA
Prof. Dr. Laurent Mignon – Oxford University, UK
Dr. Alan Mikhail – Yale University, USA
Dr. Amy Mills – University of South Carolina, USA
Dr. Mostafa Minawi – Cornell University, USA
Prof. Dr. Timothy Mitchell – William B. Ransford Professor, Columbia University, USA
Dr. Yael Navaro – University of Cambridge, UK
Prof. Dr. Gülru Necipoğlu – Agha Khan Professor of Islamic Art, Harvard University, USA
Prof. Dr. Christoph K. Neumann – Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
Dr. Vanessa Ogle – University of Pennsylvania, USA
Prof. Dr. Bernard O’Kane – American University in Cairo, Egypt
Dr. Kerem Oktem – University of Graz, Austria
Prof. Dr. Ozlem Onaran – Greenwich University, UK
Prof. Dr. Victor Ostapchuk – University of Toronto, Canada
Dr. M'hamed Oualdi – Princeton University, USA
Prof. Dr. Umut Ozkirimli – Lund University, Sweden
Dr. Hakan Ozoglu – University of Central Florida, USA
Dr. Esra Ozyurek – Chair for Contemporary Turkish Studies, London School of Economics, UK
Dr. Tatjana Paic-Vukic – The Oriental Collection of the Archives of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Croatia
Prof. Dr. Leslie Peirce – New York University, USA
Dr. Karen Pinto, Boise State University, USA
Dr. Oyku Potuoglu-Cook – University of California, Riverside, USA
Prof. Dr. Scott Redford, SOAS, UK
Dr. Andras Riedlmayer – Harvard University Libraries, USA
Prof. Dr. Aron Rodrigue – Charles Michael Professor in Jewish History and Culture, Stanford University, USA
Prof. Dr. Dani Rodrik – Harvard University, USA
Prof. Dr. Eugene Rogan – Director of the Middle East Center, Oxford University, UK
Dr. E. Natalie Rothman – University of Toronto, Canada
Dr. David Romano – Missouri State University, USA
Dr. Avi Rubin – Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Prof. Dr. Khaled El-Rouayheb – James Richard Jewett Professor of Arabic and of Islamic Intellectual History, Harvard University, USA.
Dr. Kim Rygial – Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada
Dr. Hanan Sabea – American University in Cairo, Cairo
Dr. Dana Sajdi – Boston College, USA
Dr. Adam Sabra – University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
Dr. İbrahim Kaya Şahin – Indiana University Bloomington, USA
Dr. Christa Salamandra – City University of New York, USA
Dr. Ariel Salzmann – Queen's University, Canada
Dr. Safa Saracoglu – Bloomsbury University, USA
Dr. Marinos Sariyannis – Institute for Mediterranean Studies/FORTH, Greece
Dr. Hakan Seckinelgin, London School of Economics, UK
Dr. David Selim Sayers – San Francisco State University, USA
Dr. Jan Schmidt – Leiden University, Netherlands
Dr. Kent Schull – SUNY, Binghamton, USA
Dr. Anna Secor – University of Kentucky, USA
Dr. Günter Seufert – German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Germany
Dr. Prakash Shahah – Queen Mary, University of London, UK
Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Shakman-Hurd – Northwestern University, USA
Prof. Dr. Wendy Shaw – Freie University, Germany.
Prof. Dr. Kim Shively – Kutztown University, USA
Prof. Dr. Kemal Silay – Indiana University, USA
Dr. Brian Silverstein – University of Arizona, USA
Prof. Dr. Amy Singer – Tel Aviv University, Israel
Prof. Dr. Radhika Singha – Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
Dr. Mark L. Stein – Muhlenberg College, USA
Dr. Gerrit Steunebrink – Radboud University, Netherlands
Prof. Dr. Martin Strohmeier – University of Cyprus, Cyprus
Prof. Dr. Martin Stokes – King’s College, UK
Dr. Emmanuel Szurek – EHESS, France
Emeritus Professor Richard Tapper – University of London, UK
Dr. Eren Tasar – University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA
Dr. Deniz Tat – Leiden University, Netherlands
Dr. Baki Tezcan – University of California, Davis, USA
Dr. Gunes Murat Tezcur – Jalal Talabany Chair for Kurdish Political Studies, University of Central Florida, USA
Dr. Nicholas Trépanier – University of Mississipi, USA
Dr. Cihan Tugal – University of California, Berkeley, USA
Prof. Dr. Berna Turam – Northeastern University, USA
Dr. Zeynep Turkyilmaz – Dartmouth College, USA
Prof. Dr. Masayuki Ueno, Osaka City University, Japan
Dr. Ebru Ustundag – Brock University, Canada
Prof. Dr. Nicolas Vatin – Collège de France, France
Dr. Ali Yaycioglu – Stanford University, USA
Dr. Eunjeong Yi – Seoul National University, Korea
Dr. Kadir Yildirim – Rice University, USA
Dr. Zeynep Yurekli – Oxford University, UK
Prof. Dr. Sabra J. Webber – Ohio State University, USA
Prof. Dr. Jenny White – Boston University, USA
Dr. Charles L. Wilkins – Wake Forest University, USA
Dr. Carole Woodall – University of Colorado, USA
Dr. Sara Nur Yildiz – St. Andrews University, UK
Prof. Dr. Gokce Yurdakul – Georg Simmel Professor of Comparative Studies on Diversity and Social Conflicts, Humboldt University, Germany
Dr. Konstantina Zanou – Columbia University, USA
Prof. Dr. Fariba Zarinebaf – Chair, Middle East and Islamic Studies Program, University of California, Riverside, USA
Prof. Dr. Dror Zeevi – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Prof. Dr. Madeline Zilfi – University of Maryland, College Park
Prof. Dr. Erik-Jan Zürcher – Leiden University, Netherlands