In the latest attack on freedom of expression in Turkey, three academics who signed a peace petition in January 2016 have been detained by a court of Istanbul, being charged with making terrorist propaganda. The 3 were arrested on 15 March 2016, pending the completion of a criminal investigation. Security forces requested imprisonment up to
In the latest attack on freedom of expression in Turkey, three academics who signed a peace petition in January 2016 have been detained by a court of Istanbul, being charged with making terrorist propaganda. The 3 were arrested on 15 March 2016, pending the completion of a criminal investigation. Security forces requested imprisonment up to 7-and-a-half-years. The hearing will be held on 22 April.
Meanwhile, 30 academics were fired and 27 other suspended by their universities. Istanbul’s prosecutor, Irfan Piantine, holds them responsible of terrorist crimes and is carrying out a criminal investigation into all those who signed the petition.
1,128 academics from 89 different universities signed the petition named We will not be a Party to this Crime. Published in a press released in Istanbul on 11 January, the petition encourages to resume peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), affirming that “The Turkish state has effectively condemned its citizens in Sur, Silvan, Nusaybin, Cizre, Silopi, and many other towns and neighborhoods in the Kurdish provinces to hunger through its use of curfews that have been ongoing for weeks. It has attacked these settlements with heavy weapons and equipment that would only be mobilized in wartime. As a result, the right to life, liberty, and security, and in particular the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment protected by the constitution and international conventions have been violated”.
“President Erdogan’s vicious campaign against the academics is part of his drive to banish, punish, and silence all critical voices in Turkey,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Turkey’s universities, prosecutors, and courts should respect and protect free speech and the rule of law by immediately dropping all investigations and punitive measures against all those who signed the declaration.”
Siamo anche su WhatsApp. Segui il canale ufficiale LifeGate per restare aggiornata, aggiornato sulle ultime notizie e sulle nostre attività.
Quest'opera è distribuita con Licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 4.0 Internazionale.
They’re guilty of signing a declaration to denounce and ask to stop the violence perpetrated by the Turkish army against the leaders of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party – PKK. It’s a declaration urging a peaceful solution to the almost centuries-old conflict in the south-east between Turkey and the PKK, which is considered to be a terrorist
The region that includes Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and part of Turkey, where Kurds claim autonomy or even independence in the name of a greater Kurdistan, has been the focus of international attention for decades. The journalist Ferruccio de Bortoli shines a light on the issue ahead of the Turkish parliamentary elections on the 1st of
Turkish general elections have been held on 7 June, but since then no single political party, or bloc of allied parties, managed to create a government. Therefore, the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on new elections on 1 November, in order to solve the political stalemate. Who knows if he ever imagined that such stalemate
Costa Rica celebrated its first same-sex marriage when two women, Alexandra Quiros and Dunia Araya, celebrated their wedding: an “extraordinary moment”.
On top of a 2.4 million dollar compensation, the indigenous Ashaninka people will receive an official apology from the companies who deforested their lands in the 1980s.
From Italy to the United States, workers in the logistics and delivery sectors are protesting to demand better sanitary conditions to protect themselves from Covid-19.
The pandemic and its restrictions are affecting everyone, without exceptions. However factors like housing, income inequalities, gender, access to technology and working conditions are influencing how people experience the health crisis.
In the midst of India’s coronavirus lockdown, two dozen people lost their lives in a desperate bid to return home: migrant labourers forced to leave the cities where they worked once starvation began knocking at their doors.
È drammatico il bilancio dell’attentato subito il 10 ottobre, a tre settimane dalle elezioni, da migliaia di militanti pacifisti curdi nel centro della capitale turca.
