32 Academics Face up to 7 Years, 6 Months in Prison

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Trial of academics, who have been charged with "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" for having signed the declaration entitled "We will not be a party to this crime" prepared by the Academics for Peace, continued in İstanbul Çağlayan Courthouse yesterday (October 17).

48 academics had their hearings at five separate courts:

At the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court, Prof. Dr. Z.Y., PhD student B.K., Prof. Dr. Kuban Altınel and Prof. Dr. Nüket Esen from Boğaziçi University had their third hearings.

At the İstanbul 30th Heavy Penal Court, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ali Oturan from Université Paris-Est and PhD student H.T. from İstanbul Bilgi University had their first hearings.

At the İstanbul 33rd Heavy Penal Court, Prof. Dr. Hülya Kirmanoğlu, retired Assoc. Prof. Dr. Haydar Durak, Dr. Lecturer Fatma Nihan Aksakallı, Dr. Lecturer Yusuf Doğan Çetinkaya, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Bekmen, PhD student İrfan Keşoğlu and Dr. Lecturer İlkay Yılmaz from İstanbul University; Prof. Dr. Erol Katırcıoğlu from Marmara University; Seçkin Sertdemir, F.A.A., Gözde Aytemur Nüfusçu, and discharged research assistants Eda Aslı Şeran, Seçil Ercan, Prof. Dr. Yüksel Taşkın, PhD student Cihan Yapıştıran, Dr. İsmet Akça, Dr. Ayşe Nilüfer Durakbaşa, Dr. Lecturer Özgür Müftüoğlu, Dr. Lecturer T.D.Y., Assoc. Prof. Dr. Y. Y., Dr.Lecturer E.A. from Galatasaray University; Prof. Dr. Meltem Ahıska from Boğaziçi University; Dr. Lecturer Öznur Yaşar Diner from Kadir Has University; Prof. Dr. Zeynep Tül Süalp, who was dismissed from her post at Bahçeşehir University; Dr. Lecturer Bedriye Aysuda Kölemen Luge and lecturer Esra Kaliber from Kemerburgaz University; lecturer İlkay Özkuralpli and lecturer Remzi Orkun Güner from Arel University; and Dr. Lecturer N.M., who was dismissed from her post at Nişantaşı University had their hearings that had been previously combined.

At the İstanbul 35th Heavy Penal Court, research assistant Ü.S. and Dr. Lecturer Özge Ejder Johnson from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University; PhD student Elif Sandal Önal, lecturer Onur Ceritoğlu and Dr. Lecturer Murat Dağlı from İstanbul Bilgi University; Dr. T.Y. from Sabancı University; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aslı Telli Aydemir, who was dismissed from her post at İstanbul Şehir University; Ayşe Dayı from University of University of Lausanne; and Nihal Oturan from Université Paris-Est had their first hearings.

At the İstanbul 37th Heavy Penal Court, retired Prof. Dr. Haldun Önalp and discharged research assistant Dr. Ece Öztan from Yıldız Technical University; Assoc. Prof. Dr. İpek Yürekli from İstanbul Technical University; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Y.A. from Kemerburgaz University and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Feryal Saygılıgil from Arel University had their second hearings.

Opinion as to the accusations for 32 academics

At the 33rd Heavy Penal Court, the Prosecutor's Office announced its opinion as to the accusations for 27 academics, whose case files had been combined; and at the 37th Heavy Penal Court, the Prosecutor's Office announced its opinion as to the accusations for five academics.

Both Prosecutor's Offices demanded that 32 academics be penalized as per the 1st and 2nd sentences of Article no. 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law.

What happened?

On January 10, 2016, 1,128 academics published a declaration entitled "We will not be party to this crime" on behalf of the Academics for Peace initiative. With the participation of further academics, the number of academics who have signed the declaration has reached 2,212.

With the indictment issued by the Prosecutor İsmet Bozkurt, lawsuits were filed against the academics on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article No. 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law No. 3713.

As of October 17, 2018, 335 academics had stood trial since December 5, 2017. 28 of these academics were sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison and all of the sentences were suspended, except for those of Prof. Dr. Zübeyde Füsun Üstel from Galatasaray University and Prof. Dr. Büşra Ersanlı from Marmara University.

The penalty of Prof. Dr. Üstel was not deferred on the grounds that "she did not demand deferment of the announcement of the verdict and that she did not make a statement of penitence." As for the penalty of Prof. Dr. Büşra Ersanlı, it was not deferred on the ground that "no opinion as to her avoidance of committing offense has emerged considering her personality which does not express any remorse."

On March 10, 2016, the Academics for Peace made a statement for press and shared with the public what they had been going through since the declaration "We will not be a party to this crime" was published. The academics Dr. Lecturer Esra Mungan, Dr. Lecturer Muzaffer Kaya, Assoc. Prof. Dr Kıvanç Ersoy (March 15, 2016) and Dr. Lecturer Meral Camcı (March 31, 2016), who read out the above-mentioned statement for press, were arrested on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article No. 7/2 of the Turkish Anti-Terror Law. They were released on April 2016. Upon the request of the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Justice granted a permission of trial as per the Article No. 301 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 301 on charges of "insulting the Turkish Nation, the State of the Republic of Turkey and the institutions and organs of the government."

The trials still continue. (TP/SD)