Turkey: Detained higher education professionals at risk of torture


Date posted: August 3, 2016

August 2, 2016 — Scholars at Risk (SAR) is gravely concerned about sweeping actions against Turkey’s higher education sector, including most recently prolonged incommunicado detention and related risks of torture and ill-treatment of hundreds of higher education professionals, in violation of Turkey’s obligations under domestic and international law.

These detentions and concerns of torture, coupled with reports of forced resignations imposed by Turkey’s Council of Higher Education (YÖK) on more than fifteen hundred faculty deans, suspensions of thousands of education ministry personnel, university closures, widespread travel restrictions and orders that academics abroad return to Turkey, suggest a broad campaign against intellectuals and intellectual expression, in violation of Turkey’s international and domestic legal obligations to protect institutional autonomy and academic freedom, including under Turkey’s constitution.

SAR calls for letters, emails, and faxes respectfully urging the authorities to ensure the earliest release of detained individuals, including higher education personnel, and pending this ensure their well-being in custody; ensure that any proceedings, charges, convictions, suspensions, travel restrictions or other penalties against higher education professionals stemming from their peaceful exercise of academic freedom and related rights are reversed, and pending this ensure that any such actions observe internationally recognized due process and fair trial standards, in accordance with Turkey’s obligations under international and domestic law; and ensure that Turkey honors its international and domestic legal obligations, including under the constitution, to protect institutional autonomy and academic freedom.

cc: Scholars at Risk
Email:scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu
Fax:+1 212-995-4402
His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
President of the Republic of Turkey
Email:contact@tccb.gov.tr
Fax:+(90 312) 525 58

cc: Mr. Bekir Bozdağ
Minister of Justice, Turkey
Fax:+90 312 419 3370

cc: Mr. Yekta Saraç
President of the Higher Education Council, Turkey
Email:cohe@yok.gov.tr
Fax:+90 312 266 4744

cc: The Honorable Serdar Kılıç
Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the United States
Phone:+1 202 612 67 00
Email:embassy.washingtondc@mfa.gov.tr
Fax:+1 202 612 6744

cc: The Honorable John Bass
Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Turkey
Fax:(90-312) 467-001

cc: The Honorable Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Email:InfoDesk@ohchr.org
Fax:+41 22-917-9011

cc: The Honorable John F. Kerry
United States Secretary of State
Phone:+1 202-647-9572
Fax:+1 202-647-1579

Click link below to send an email to persons above.

Source: Scholars at Risk , August 2, 2016

Tags: | | | | |


Related News

A February 28 tactic from the PKK

The people of the nation know Gülen, who has spoken for years from the lectern at mosques, and they know those on the other side, too. If the shadows of the weapons cast over these people were only to be lifted, we would see whose side they would stand on.

Detained Gülen school director to ask for asylum to avoid extradition

A detained Gülen school official is asking for asylum in Georgia in order to avoid extradition to Turkey, where he may face brutal and inhumane treatment, according to his lawyers. Georgia detained Mustafa Emre Cabuk in May. He is one of the managers of Demirel private schoool in Tbilisi.

Islamic scholar Gülen calls for calm among supporters

Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has called on his supporters to remain calm and be patient in the wake of rumors that Istanbul police were planning to start an operation to round up hundreds of people close to his movement. Gülen called for patience and calm among the relatives of those who are being probed or expecting probes against them, advising them to pray and read the Quran.

Turkey’s president orders closure of 1,000 private schools linked to Gülen

Turkey’s president has signed a decree that allows for the extension of the pre-charge detention period and the closure of institutions linked to Fethullah Gülen, the exiled cleric blamed for masterminding last weekend’s failed military coup.

The Coup Attempt – Turkey’s Reichstag Fire

Once forces loyal to Turkish President Erdogan had put the attempted takeover down, he called the coup attempt “a gift from God” because it provided an excuse to crack down on competitors and opponents. Using enemies lists prepared well in advance, his purges have touched more than 100,000 and sparked widespread conspiracies among Turks that the July 15 coup was Turkey’s equivalent of the Reichstag fire.

Human Rights Watch: People being tortured, abducted in post-coup Turkey

People detained after the last year’s failed putsch have been subject to torture in police custody while several others were abducted outside detention facilities, according to a recent report by the Human Rights Watch. The New York-based watchdog documented human rights abuses occurred between March and August 2017 in its 43-page report, “In Custody: Police Torture and Abductions in Turkey.”

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

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

In Case You Missed It

Court imposes punitive fine on author for libeling Gülen family

Free speech groups condemn Turkey’s closure of 29 publishers after failed coup

Criminal complaint filed against media organizations publishing Gülen’s speeches

‘Let my husband go to another country, just not Turkey’

Religious leaders in Philippines defend Turkish NGOs being linked to terrorism

Main opposition CHP says received no message from Fethullah Gülen

IFLC’s ‘colors of the world’ welcomed at European Parliament

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News