Ninth Level Ireland

“More than 150 people were arrested during protests at one of Turkey’s top universities, in a sharp escalation of a stand-off between students and staff and president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A total of 159 demonstrators were detained on Monday night after failing to heed warnings to end their protests in and around the campus of Istanbul’s prestigious Bogazici University, the city’s governor’s office said …” (more)

[Laura Pitel, Irish Times, 2 February]

“On the 25th September, 2018, Sedat Laçiner, a world renowned political scientist, once described as a ‘rising star of Turkish academia’, and the youngest man ever appointed as a rector to a Turkish university, was jailed for 9 years and 4 months …” (more)

[Gavin Tracey, University Observer, 3 November]

“Experts fear that the crackdown on academic freedom in Turkey will be followed by a drive towards the Islamisation of campuses, after the country’s president accused one of its top universities of failing to ‘lean on national values’ …” (more)

[David Matthews, Times Higher Education, 18 January]

“The repression of academics in Turkey is worsening, writes Scott McLemee, who describes the growing international protest on behalf of such scholars and how one might join it …” (more)

[Scott McLemee, Inside Higher Ed, 15 December]

“The first of the court cases involving academics who have been charged with the ‘crime’ of signing a petition criticizing the policies of the Turkish government regarding the treatment of Kurdish people particularly in the South-East of the country opened in Istanbul on Tuesday 4 December 2017 …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 8 December]

“In the year since the attempted coup in Turkey, a ‘staggering’ number of academics have faced criminal investigations, detentions, prosecutions, mass dismissal, expulsion and restrictions on travel, according to an open letter to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey …” (more)

[Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 15 July]

“Two Turkish academics, Nuriye Gulmen and Semih Ozakca, have been on hunger strike for the last two months to protest their dismissal by the government, after the failed coup attempt in 2016.” (video)

[BBC News, 13 May]

“Sir, – The Turkish government continues to attack and undermine education and exert increasingly oppressive control on schools under the guise of responding to the failed coup attempt last summer …” (more)

[Mike Jennings, Irish Times, 23 November]

“Some 76 academics have reportedly been detained at a university in Istanbul as part of an investigation into the movement allegedly responsible for an attempted coup in Turkey. It comes after the chief of Nato said Turkish officers have sought asylum in allied countries amid a government crackdown in their country following the failed military coup …” (more)

[Independent, 18 November]

“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has called on the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, TD, to raise the increasing and flagrant abuse of human rights in Turkey, which is particularly affecting those involved in education …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 25 September]

“Dear colleagues, I encourage you to take urgent action in support of Turkish education employees targeted by an ongoing ‘witch-hunt’ in the aftermath of the failed coup on 15 July 2016. Taking advantage of the post-coup investigations, the Turkish Government has launched a series of punitive measures against its own citizens, and particularly against the education community …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 23 September]

“Dear Colleagues, As we have witnessed over the past week it has become abundantly clear that the actions of the Turkish Government have gone far beyond any reasonable response to the attempted coup …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 2 August]

“Dear Colleagues,Turkey must not use educators as scapegoats in response to failed coup. Education International strongly protests the unlawful actions Turkish authorities have taken against the teaching profession …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 21 July]

“Turkey has banned all academics from travelling overseas after cancelling their annual leave, as President Tayyip Erdogan’s post-coup crackdown escalated to ‘exceptional proportions’ …” (more)

[Josie Ensor, Independent, 21 July]

“Turkey is upping the pressure on scientists and students who question its policies, and international human-rights advocates are taking notice. In the past few years, the government has clamped down on the independence of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey and the Turkish Academy of Sciences …” (more)

[Alison Abbott, Nature News & Comment, 3 July]

“Germany and Turkey have founded a new university in Istanbul. The Deutsch-Türkische Universität (DTU) is to focus on engineering sciences and engage in intensive cooperation with industry, but will also be providing a platform for cultural exchange …” (more)

[Michael Gardner, University World News, 7 November]

“One of the more controversial questions in Turkey and indeed across Europe has seen a recent dramatic shift in policy whereby Turkish universities are loosening the ban on women wearing headscarves …” (more)

[David Keane, Human Rights in Ireland, 26 October]

“Turkey has not achieved the status of a ‘scientific society’ and science in the country requires more independence from politics to achieve that goal, according to a new report based on extensive interviews with scientists …” (more)

[University World News, 4 July]

“Turkey’s government is about to pass legislation that could cripple the country’s biological research. When politicians respond to popular distrust of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), they sometimes fail to grasp how intricately molecular technologies infiltrate different areas of science. A case in point is now playing out in Turkey, where an attempt to regulate GMOs in agriculture has morphed into a draft law that could wipe out the country’s biomedical research …” (more)

[Nature, 24 February]