Open Letter of Support for Students of Boğaziçi University by 199 Academics

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish 

199 academics from around the world have denounced the detention of Boğaziçi University students who protested some students who opened a stand and distributed Turkish delight* in the campus to commemorate people who lost their lives during Afrin operation.

Academics have criticized the President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for referring to students as "terrorists."

The open letter published by the academics has been sent to Turkey's Consulate General in New York, the Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, the Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül, the President of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) Yekta Saraç, the Minister of National Education İsmet Yılmaz and the President of Boğaziçi University Mehmed Özkan.

The letter called "Open Letter of Support for Students Arrested at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey" is as follows:

"As members of academic communities around the world, we strongly oppose the recent arrests and harassment of students at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey.

"On March 19, 2018, students demonstrated against a campus event supporting the Turkish soldiers who fought in the invasion of Afrin, Syria, which was organized by the Society for Islamic Research (İslam Araştırmaları Kulübü). The arrests on campus, as well as subsequent police raids of student homes and dormitories, continue a disturbing trend of criminalizing political speech and dissent in Turkey.

"President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has cynically referred to these students as "terrorists", vowed to expel them from Boğaziçi University, and to deny them the right to study at any other university. We have heard this kind of verbal attack from Erdoğan before and it was followed by the detention of thousands of academics, journalists, artists, and human rights advocates.

"We call upon the Turkish government to immediately release all student detainees.

"We call upon the Turkish government to immediately cease all investigations and arrests of students exercising political speech.

"We express our solidarity with these students, who continue to courageously express their dissent, despite the great risks they face.

"We pledge our support to these students through the public and private means available to us."

Signatories

1. Judith Butler, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

2. Alice Crary, Professor of Philosophy, New School for Social Research and Member, School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), USA

3. Nancy Fraser, Professor, New School for Social Research, New York, USA

4. Seyla Benhabib, Professor, Yale University, New Haven, USA

5. Jay M Bernstein, University Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, New School for Social Research, New York City, USA

6. Robin Celikates, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

7. Amy Allen, Professor of Philosophy, Penn State, University Park, PA, USA

8. Prof. Dr. Rahel Jaeggi, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

9. Mary Marshall Clark, Columbia University Center for Oral History Research, New York, New York, USA

10. Georges Khalil, EUME, Berlin, Germany

11. Todd Gitlin, Professor of Journalism and Sociology, Columbia University

12. Hamit Bozarslan, Prof. Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris

13. Immanuel Ness, Professor, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, USA

14. Professor John Comaroff, Department of Anthropology and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

15. Professor Jean Comaroff, Alfred North Whitehead Professor of Anthropology and African and African American Studies, Harvard University, USA

16. Marianne Hirsch, William Peterfield Trent Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, USA

17. Caghan Kizil, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, DZNE Dresden, Helmholtz Association, Germany

18. Yektan Türkyılmaz, Kazan Visiting Professor, California State University, Fresno, USA

19. Eylem Delikanlı, Oral Historian, Research Institute on Turkey

20. Dr. des. Eva von Redecker, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

21. Daniel Loick, Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany

22. Sabine Flick, Dr., ISSI, Berkeley Center for Social Medicine

23. Dr. Philip Hogh, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany

24. Emek Ergün, Assistant Professor, Women's and Gender Studies, UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, USA

25. Ali Yaycioglu, Assistant Professor of History, Stanford University

26. İlkim Karakuş, PhD Student, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA

27. Baki Tezcan, Associate Professor of History, University of California, Davis; USA

28. Adnan Çelik, PhD, EHESS, Paris, France

29. Prof. Ümit Cizre

30. Bronislaw Czarnocha, Professor, CUNY, NYC, USA

31. Dana Ward, Professor Emeritus, Pitzer College (Fulbright at Ankara University 1986), Claremont, CA, USA

32. Jacqueline DiSalvo. Associate Professor, English, Baruch College, New York, USA and Professional Staff Congress at the City University of New York

33. Ara Sarafian, Gomidas Institute, London, UK.

34. Halil Ibrahim Yenigun, Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

35. Dr. Barzoo Eliassi, Associate Professor, Linnaeus University

36. Dr Mehmet Kurt, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester

37. İlhan Küçükaydın, Penn State University, USA

38. David Long, Professor of Philosophy, Unaffiliated, Eugene, OR, USA

39. Ayşe Polat, PhD, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

40. Zikri Rahman, Graduate Student, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

41. Nerissa Russell, Professor, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

42. Howard Pflanzer, Adjunct Associate Professor, English, Bronx Community College/CUNY

43. Chad Kautzer, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA

44. Mine Gencel Bek, University of Siegen, Germany

45. Rossen Djagalov, Assistant Professor, New York University, USA

46. Dr. Sabine Bohne, Osnabrück, Deutschland

47. Ellen Rutten, Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

48. Prof. Dr. Lisa Herzog, Hochschule für Politik München, Germany

49. Sruti Bala, University of Amsterdam, Dept. of Theatre Studies

50. Dr. Machiel Keestra, University of Amsterdam, NL

51. Jaap Maat, Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam

52. P. D. Nyiri, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands

53. Brendan Hogan, Clinical Associate Professor, New York University, NYC, USA

54. Ayça Çubukçu, Assistant Professor in Human Rights, London School of Economics and Political Science

55. Lucia Nixon, Wolfson College, Oxford, UK

56. Dr. Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Lecturer of Political Sociology, University of Cambridge

57. Gordon Bearn, Professor of Philosophy, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, USA

58. Aylin Kuryel, University of Amsterdam

59. Abraham Geil, Assistant Professor of Film Studies, The University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

60. Jeroen de Kloet, Professor of Globalisation Studies, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

61. Geert Kapteijns, PhD student, University of Amsterdam

62. Sandro Mezzadra (New School for Social Research, New York)

63. Mieke Verloo, professor of comparative politics and inequality issues, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

64. Mehmet İlyas Cosacak, PhD Student, Technische Universität Dresden and DZNE Dresden, Helmholtz Association, Germany

65. Oktay Şahbaz, Teacher of Computer Science, London, United Kingdom.

66. Franck Fishbach, Professor, University of Strasbourg (France)

67. Rosa Gilbert, PhD Researcher, European University Institute, Florence, Italy

68. Selçuk Balamir, University of Amsterdam

69. William Clare Roberts, Assistant Professor of Political Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

70. Dr. Elizabeth Oglesby, University of Arizona, USA

71. Dr. Albert van der Schoot, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

72. William E. Scheuerman, Professor of Political Science, Indiana University, Bloomington USA

73. Beate Roessler, Professor of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam

74. Stephan Lessenich, Professor, Department of Sociology, LMU Munich, Germany

75. Sarah Mühlbacher, Institut für Sozialforschung Frankfurt, Germany

76. Isabell Lorey, University of Kassel, Germany

77. Tim Nicholls, Secretary, Dorchester, Weymouth & Portland TUC

78. Paula Chakravartty, Associate Professor, Department of Media Culture and Communication and the Gallatin School, New York University

79. John Christman, Professor of Philosophy, Penn State University, State College, United States

80. Winifred Poster, Washington University, St. Louis

81. Professor Heide Solbrig New Hampshire Institute of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire

82. Nalan Erbil, PhD candidate, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

83. Ümit Yildiz, Edge Hill University, England

84. Aladdin Sinayic-Journalist-London

85. Georgios Kesisoglou, Post-Doctoral Fellow, National and Kapodistrian University of Athensm Greece

86. Eric Schliesser, Professor of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

87. Yolande Jansen, Professor, University of Amsterdam and Vu University Amsterdam,

88. Yudit Namer, PhD, Bielefeld University, Germany

89. Pirjo Nikande, Research Director, University of Tampere, Finland

90. Olga S. Hünler, PhD, Universität Bremen, Germany

91. Dr. des. Ursula Stark Urrestarazu, Goethe University Frankfurt

92. Risto Heiskala, Professor, University of Tampere, Finland

93. Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee, Professor, Warwick University, UK

94. Simon Murch, National Executive Member NUT-NEU, Sheffield, England

95. Ahsan Javed, Master Student, Techische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

96. Eef Masson, Ass. Professor Media Studies, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

97. Antke Engel, Institute for Queer Theory, Berlin, Germany

98. Darin Barney, Grierson Chair in Communication Studies, McGill University

99. Alain Trautmann, Emeritus Director, CNRS, France

100. Vasuki Nesiah, New York University

101. Emre Can Daglıoğlu, PhD Student, Clark University, MA, USA

102. Jesse Benn, PhD student/teaching assistant, UW - Madison, USA

103. Özgür Türesay, Mcf, Ecole pratique des hautes études, Paris, France

104. Hakan Sandal, PhD candidate, Centre for Gender Studies, University of Cambridge

105. Martin van Bruinessen, Professor Emeritus, Utrecht University, Netherlands

106. Ergin Öpengin, Visiting Lecturer, Uppsala University, Sweden

107. Bülent Somay, Research Fellow at Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

108. Dr. Marina Neophytou, Associate Professor, University of Cyprus

109. Nick Paré, student, University of Québec in Montréal (UQAM), Montréal, Québec, Canada

110. Nitzan Lebovic, Associate Professor of History, Lehigh University, PA, USA

111. Christopher Zurn, Professor University of Massachusetts Boston, USA

112. Gülçin Doğan, Student, Boğaziçi university, İstanbul, Türkiye

113. Dr. Peter Hill, Junior Research Fellow, Christ Church, University of Oxford, England

114. Theodra Bane, PhD Candidate, Villanova University, Philadelphia, USA

115. Luz Inés Baños, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Querétaro, México

116. Sarah Bracke, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

117. Susan Bruce, Professor, Keele University, UK

118. Alessandra Mecozzi president of association Cultura è libertà Rome Italy

119. Kevin Lower, PhD Student, Villanova University, Philadelphia, PA

120. Alperen Arslan, Bogazici University

121. Dr. Mehmet Kart, University of Vechta, Germany

122. Blanca Missé, Assistant Professor, San Francisco State University

123. M. Bilal Altundal, Boğaziçi University, İstanbul,Türkiye

124. Kostas Skordoulis, Professor, Epistemology of Physics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

125. Jelscha Schmid, ETH Zurich, PhD, Switzerland

126. Deniz Onat Öztürk, Student, Industrial Product Design/ İstanbul Technical University, İstanbul, Turkey

127. Göksu Özahishali, MA Student, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

128. İdil Önen, Visiting Research Fellow, University of London, Institute in Paris, Paris/France

129. Teresa Heffernan, Professor of English, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, NS, Canada

130. Frank Rutten, Lecturer in Physical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Keele University, UK

131. Yaprak Damla Yıldırım, MA Student, Critical and Cultural Studies, Boğaziçi University, İstanbul, Turkey

132. Esmeray Yoğun, Dr., CNAM Lise, Paris, France

133. Baran Deniz Bağatur, Undergraduate Student, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey

134. Mehmet Rauf Kesici, Dr, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

135. Cemre Green, University of Rouen Normandy

136. Doga Ulaş Eralp, Professorial Lecturer, American University, Washington,DC, USA

137. Didem Oral, PhD Candidate, European University Institute

138. Suad Sakallı Gümüs, Appalachian State University, NC. USA

139. Karen Barkey, University of California, Berkeley

140. Katharina Hoppe, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany

141. Dr. Jonas Heller, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Germany

142. Mounira Zennia, Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany

143. Dr. Lizzie Stewart, King's College London, UK

144. Naif Bezwan, Department of Political Science, UCL, UK

145. Alain Trautmann, emeritus Research Director, CNRS, Paris (France)

146. Felix Anderl, Research Associate, Goethe University Frankfurt

147. Michael E. Green, Professor, City University of New York, New York NY, US

148. Koshka Duff, GTA in Philosophy, King's College London, UK

149. Dr. Hilla Dayan, Lecturer, Amsterdam University College, the Netherlands

150. Emre Çetin Gürer, PhD Candidate, Villanova University, USA

151. Claire Messud, Novelist, Harvard University

152. Jonathan Wyrtzen, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Yale University, New Haven, USA

153. Misty Belcourt, Program Manager, Winnipeg, Canada

154. Karen Ridd, Instructor (Conflict Resolution and International Development Studies) Menno Simons College, University of Winnipeg and Canadian Mennonite University

155. Danya Al-Saleh, University of Wisconsin-Madison, PhD Student, Madison, Wisconsin

156. Nurhak Polat, Dr., University of Bremen, Germany

157. Katharina Hermann, MA, phd student, University of Bern, Switzerland

158. Kabir Tambar, Assistant Professor, Stanford University, USA

159. Sarah Mekdjian, Assistant Professor, University Grenoble Alps, France

160. Alain Charbonneau, Université du Québec à Montréal

161. Krassimir Stojanov, Prof., University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany

162. Katrine Vigne, Roskilde University, Copenhagen, Denmark

163. Banu Bargu, Associate Professor of History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

164. Pinar Dinç, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University

165. Marcial Godoy-Anativia, Managing Director, Hemispheric Institute, New York University

166. Hüseyin Emlik, University o Agder, Social Sciences Institute/Global Development Management and Planning, Kristiansand-Norway

167. Zeynep Turkyılmaz, Research Fellow, EUME, Berlin, Germany

168. Steven Caton, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA USA

169. Radhika Balakrishnan, Professor Rutgers University

170. Susan Greenhalgh, Professor, Harvard Univ, Cambridge, MA, USA

171. Edoardo Ponti, PhD student, University of Cambridge, UK

172. Siddharth Soni, PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge

173. Christoph Witt, PhD student, Friedrich-Schlegel-Graduiertenschule, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

174. Cihan Erdal, PhD, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

175. Merisa B. Sahin, MA Student, New York University, USA

176. Asli İğsiz, Assistant Professor, New York University

177. Natalia Brizuela, Spanish & Portuguese and Film & Media, University of California, Berkeley, USA

178. Jens Hanssen, Universities of Toronto & Göttingen

179. Johanna Ray Vollhardt, Associate Professor, Clark University, Worcester, MA, USA

180. Bonnie Honig, Nancy Duke Lewis Professor in Modern Culture and Media and Political Science, Brown University, USA

181. Özlem Göner, Assistant Professor/College of Staten Island, CUNY, New York, USA

182. Serra Hakyemez, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA

183. Fatma Müge Göçek, Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

184. Ruken Işık, PhD Student-University of Maryland, Baltimore County, MD, USA

185. Adam Renner, PhD Candidate, SUNY-Binghamton, NY USA

186. Aydogan Kars, Lecturer, Religious Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

187. Zeyno Üstün, The New School, New York

188. Kaya Şahin, Associate Professor of History, Indiana University

189. Abdelrahman Ayyash, journalist and an MA student, Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey

190. Ashley Biser, Associate Professor, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH USA

191. Mohsen Rahmani, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto, Canada

192. Özge Savas, Graduate student, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, US

193. Darius Liddell, Software Engineer, Los Angeles, CA

194. Oğuz Alyanak, PhD Candidate in Sociocultural Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, USA

195. Dr. Stavroula Tsiplakou, Associate Professor, Open University of Cyprus

196. Michael Rothberg, 1939 Society Samuel Goetz Chair in Holocaust Studies, UCLA

197. Jonneke Koomen, Associate Professor, Willamette University, Oregon, USA

198. Ohannes Kılıçdağı, CMES visiting Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, USA

199. Susan C. Pearce, Associate Professor of Sociology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA (HK/SD)

 * Turkish delight is distributed to honour the soul of someone, who has recently passed.