On April 9, 2018, a Turkish court convicted and sentenced academics Erhan Keleşoğlu,  İrfan Emre Kovankaya, and Sharo İbrahim Garip to 15 months imprisonment, in apparent retaliation for their endorsement of a petition calling on the Turkish government to end its crackdowns targeting Kurdish rebels in the southeastern part of the country.

The petition, organized by a group known as “Academics for Peace,” was issued in January 2016 and initially signed by 1,128 scholars from 89 Turkish universities, as well as more than 300 scholars from outside the country. The petition demanded an end to fighting between Turkish forces and members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, accused the government of the “deliberate massacre and deportation” of civilians, and called on the government to allow independent observers into the region, end curfews, and renew peace efforts.

Following the petition’s publication, state and higher education authorities in Turkey began launching criminal and administrative investigations against the signatories. Since that time, a growing number of the signatories have reportedly faced criminal and professional retaliation. Prosecutions against against 148 scholar-signatories charged with “terrorist propaganda” began in December 2017.

Professor Keleşoğlu, a former professor of of İstanbul University, Kovankaya, a former research assistant at Yıldız Technical University, and Professor Garip, of Van Yüzüncü Yıl Technical University, attended their third court hearing in connection with the petition on April 9, 2018. Sources indicate that the three were convicted on charges of “propagandizing for a terrorist organization,” but that their sentences were suspended.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about prosecution of scholars in retaliation for the nonviolent exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association, conduct that is expressly protected under international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Turkey is a party. Where they are a part of a widespread pattern, such incidents have a profoundly chilling effect on academic freedom, undermine democratic society generally, and may represent a grave threat to higher education on a national scale. State authorities have an obligation to comply with internationally recognized standards of academic freedom, freedom of expression, and freedom of association, as well as due process and fair trial.

Sources:

http://bianet.org/english/law/195957-3-more-academics-sentenced-to-15-months-in-prison

Turkish court hands down suspended 15-month sentences to 3 academics over peace petition