Turkey overshadows war-hit Syria in number of academics seeking asylum elsewhere


Date posted: September 19, 2016

Turkey’s purge of academia has created by far greater impact than Syrian civil war in the number of scholars seeking safety outside their home countries, according to organizations that help at-risk academics.

The New York-based Scholar Rescue Fund, a part of the Institute of International Education (IIE) has received an unprecedented number of requests for help, its director Sarah Willcox told an audience at the European Association for International Education’s annual conference, held in Liverpool from 13 to 16 September, Times Higher Education (THE) reported.

The flurry of applications for the charity’s $25,000 (£18,900) fellowships, which is then matched by universities that agree to employ the at-risk academic on a temporary basis, exceeded the recent spike in demand that followed the outbreak of civil war in Syria in 2011, which led a third of all academics and 100,000 students to flee the country, Willcox was further quoted by (THE).

The level of applications was unprecedented in the IIE’s 95-year history of helping academics at risk of persecution abroad, Willcox said.

The UK-based Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA) has also been receiving 15 to 20 applications a week for help, up from four or five a week last year, said its executive director Stephen Wordsworth. “The largest number is now coming from Turkey, which is very sad,” said Wordsworth.

Turkey has shut down at least 2,099 schools, universities and dormitories over their alleged links to the Gülen Movement, which the government accuses of masterminding the July 15 coup attempt. Some 5,075 academics have been sacked from their positions at Turkish universities since then.

Source: Turkey Purge , Sep 18, 2016


Related News

Smear campaign against Gülen today harsher than in Feb. 28 era

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has inspired a worldwide religious network that defends peaceful coexistence through dialogue and education, is currently being targeted in a government-sponsored smear campaign that is reminiscent of, and even harsher than, the Feb. 28, 1997 coup period.

Turkish Deputy PM rules out ‘ill will’ against Gülen community, unveils prep school draft details

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has announced September 2015 as the deadline for the “transformation” of private examination prep schools (dershanes) into private schools, while denying that the move represents hostility toward the “Hizmet” (Service) movement of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. Speaking after a 7.5-hour-long Cabinet meeting on Dec. 2, Arınç also announced January 2014 […]

‘Turkey using political rather than legal pressure against US to get Gulen extradited’

President Erdogan needs a victory so he can prove to the public and supporters that Fethullah Gulen was behind the failed coup and therefore get him extradited, says Ibrahim Dogus, the founder of the Center for Turkey Studies in London.

AKP deputy calls on Turkey’s religious officials to declare Gülen followers apostates

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) İstanbul deputy Metin Külünk has said Turkey’s top religious officials should declare supporters of the Gülen movement apostates, the Yeniakit daily reported on Monday. Erdoğan himself has called Gülen movement people “terrorists,” “traitors,” “vampires,” “leeches,” “tumors” and “viruses.”

South African, Kenyan leaders show support for Turkish schools

South African President Jacob Zuma and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta have both expressed support for Turkish schools in their country, amid the Turkish government’s attempts to shut down Turkish schools located abroad that are affiliated with the Hizmet movement.

Pro-gov’t Islamist ideologue says Muslims can’t accept West or EU

Hayrettin Karaman, a professor of theology and an Islamist ideologue, is highly respected by the government and is seen as the main ideological source of justification for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s initiatives. Karaman wrote a column on Feb. 13 entitled “The condition for support and friendship” in the pro-government daily Yeni Şafak, saying that relations with the West should be restricted to necessary engagement only.

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Islamic scholar Gülen’s family criticizes PM’s offensive language

Bank Asya says raising capital, set for growth

Is it a parallel triangle or square?

Turkey’s Gulen Demand – The U.S. shouldn’t extradite the exiled Turk without better evidence

Gülen movement to be discussed at Arab League

Deputy PM denies profiling of citizens in gov’t, private sector

Imran Khan denounces expected closure of Pak-Turk schools

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News