MEDIA ADVISORYFebruary 1, 2016CONTACT: Terry RoethleinPHONE: 212-854-5665

Columbia Group Condemns Turkish Government’s Censure of Scholars

New York, NY – 1/29/16 – This week the Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD) joined over 25 international higher education organizations in signing a joint public letter that criticized Turkish government and university officials for their mistreatment of academics.

Over 1,100 scholars in the Turkish higher education and research sectors have been subjected to arrests, investigations, interrogations, suspensions and termination of positions, according to the letter, after signing a public statement urging Turkish authorities to renew a peace process with members of the embattled Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeastern area of the country.

The Turkish scholars were investigated by prosecutors and accused of terrorist propaganda after they signed the petition, which demanded an end to fighting between government forces and the PKK. Eighteen scholars were placed under arrest and have since been released but others were suspended or forced to resign from their positions at Turkish higher education institutions. The joint letter states that recent events “suggest a serious and widespread effort to retaliate against scholars for the nonviolent, public expression of their views on matters of professional and public concern—conduct expressly protected by internationally recognized standards of academic freedom, freedom of expression and freedom of association as articulated in, among others, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory.” The signatories encourage Turkish officials to end any pending legal, administrative or professional actions undertaken against the scholars concerned and to renew publicly their commitment to internationally recognized principles of academic freedom and expression. The letter and its signatories can be viewed here.

“Signing a petition is a basic right to free speech and needs to be protected by our universities and our governments—and so must the freedom to demand peace at times of conflict,” said Marianne Hirsch, member of CSSD and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, in a press conference at New York University on Friday. “These are fundamental rights that are the cornerstone of liberal education and free academic inquiry. They are rights that insure the very possibility of research, thinking and academic exchange,” she said.

Hirsch expressed solidarity with colleagues in Turkey who were struggling for the protection of free speech and noted that “The international outcry against these state and university actions against academics in Turkey, the multiple petitions that have been signed by thousands of academics around the world, and have spawned numerous solidarity actions such as this one, attest to the gravity of these acts.”