Nearly a decade after more than 2,000 scholars faced legal action for signing the “We will not be a party to this crime” petition in 2016, the legal uncertainty surrounding the cases of dismissed academics remains largely unresolved.
The petition, released during intense urban conflict in 2015-16 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Turkey, led to criminal charges of “terror propaganda” against the signatories. Of these, around 400 were expelled from their positions.
The Constitutional Court’s 2019 ruling that the convictions violated the academics’ freedom of expression changed the course of the trials but despite that, reinstatement has remained elusive for most. Since the initial purge, only four academics have been formally reinstated. In some cases, reinstated individuals were later dismissed once again.
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In reinstatement cases filed by academics, administrative courts ruled in favor of reinstatement for 170 academics and rejected 184. No available information exists for 31 other cases. At the regional administrative court level, 91 cases ended in reinstatement rulings, while 99 were rejected. A total of 164 cases are still pending.
At the Council of State, the top administrative court, only 12 cases have been decided while 178 remains unresolved. Of the concluded cases, reinstatement was upheld in just four. Three were rejected definitively, while five cases were returned to regional administrative courts after the Council of State issued rulings that contradicted the appeals court.
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One case remains pending before the Council of State’s Board of Administrative Trials. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court has reviewed only three cases so far and upheld the Council of State’s rejections in each.
In a statement on their social media account, the Academics for Peace drew attention to the widespread lack of resolution in the legal process. They urged an immediate end to what they described as unlawfulness.
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Background
In Jan 2016, amid state-imposed curfews and urban conflict in Kurdish cities, 1,128 academics signed a petition titled “We will not be a party to this crime” to protest the government’s military operations.
The statement drew swift condemnation from then-Prime Minister President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Higher Education Council (YÖK).
During a Jan 20 speech, Erdoğan said, “The same circles never change—half-witted so-called intellectuals. These vulgar groups have once again revealed their true face. They tore off their masks and, with this petition, openly carried out propaganda for a terrorist organization that they had long supported through indirect means. In a state governed by the rule of law, academics do not have the privilege to commit crimes. Let them struggle as much as they want. The old Turkey, where a self-proclaimed elite ruled this great country and nation, is long gone.”
The academics received wide-ranging support from students, journalists, feminists, LGBTI+ organizations, artists, and civil society groups. By the end of the campaign on Jan 20, 2016, a total of 2,212 academics from Turkey and 2,279 from abroad had signed the petition.
During the state of emergency following the failed coup attempt in Jul 2016, 406 academics who signed the peace petition were dismissed from public service under statutory decrees.
(TY/VK)
Source: BIANET
