SoE Commission refuses to reinstate Academics for Peace despite Constitutional Court ruling

The State of Emergency Commission has turned down applications by 37 more academics.

İstanbul

SoE Commission refuses to reinstate Academics for Peace despite Constitutional Court ruling

"We will get back our usurped rights"

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More than 1,000 academics were dismissed from their posts for having signed a declaration criticizing the government over the 2015-2016 conflict in the Kurdish-majority regions.

Although the academics were acquitted of "terror propaganda" after the Constitutional Court concluded in July 2019 that their rights were violated, they are still not reinstated.

A commission set up for reviewing the government's decisions during the period of state of emergency between 2016-2018 has rejected applications from dozens of academics.

On October 28, the Commission for the Investigation of State of Emergency Procedures rejected applications by 16 academics for their reinstatement. Yesterday (November 11), it turned down applications by 37 more academics.

"The State of Emergency Commission, which cited the indictment of the cases where we were acquitted as a reason [for rejecting the applications] and acts like the Constitutional Court ruling does not exist, should be immediately abolished!" the Academics for Peace said on Twitter.

Several academics also reacted to the commission's decision under the "We'll be back" (#geridöneceğiz) hashtag on Twitter.

Uraz Aydın: They want to delay us getting our jobs back, but they should know that we will be back and hold this extortion gang and their servants in the universities accountable!

Deniz Kimyon: Trying to punish us for the Academics for Peace declaration, exiling us with state of emergency decrees, expelling us, forcing us to apply to the State of Emergency Commission rather than courts and the State of Emergency Commission's decision to reject our applications are totally against the law.

Emre Tansu Keten: The AKP [ruling Justice and Development Party] judicial branch has notified me about its decision as well. The days when you will lower yourselves for your crimes to be forgotten are not far away

Adem Yeşilyurt: I have just learned that I was rejected by the State of Emergency stalling commission. Whatever you do, we'll continue to resist with what we have!

Names of the 37 academics: Sevilay Çelenk, Aynur Özuğurlu, Uraz Aydın, Hakan Koçak, Fehmiye Ceren Akçabay, Özlem Albayrak, Funda Karapehlivan, Burçin Kalkın, Nilgün Toker, Bahar Şimşek, Adem Yeşilyurt, Emre Tansu Keten, Seçil Ercan, Ece Köse, Deniz Özden, Deniz Kimyon, Onur Özgür, Şerif Gürçağ Tuna, Serdar Çagırga, Özlem Şendeniz, Savaş Dede, Derya Keskin, Gül Köksal, Esra Demir, Zeynep Kıvılcım, Veli Deniz, Yücel Demirer, Hülya Kendir, Dilek Hattatoğlu, Faruk Alpkaya, Ruhi Demiray, Burcu Yakut Çakar, Engin Delice, Taner Özbenli, Gülseren Adaklı, Cansu Akbaş Demirel and Zöhre Koçkan.

About the Trials of Academics

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 30, 2019, 806 academics had stood trial since December 5, 2017, all the 204 academics whose cases were concluded were sentenced to prison. 146 of these academics were sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison; 8 academics to 1 year and 6 months in prison; 18 academics to 1 year, 10 months and 15 days in prison; 17 academics to 2 years and 3 months in prison; 7 academics to 2 years and 6 months in prison; 5 academics to 2 years and 1 month in prison; and one academic to 3 years in prison.

Non-deferred prison sentences for 36 people

Of these 204 people, the verdicts of conviction of 36 academics in total were not deferred; while the verdicts of 29 people were not deferred as their prison terms are over 2 years (as per the Article 286 of the Law on Criminal Courts), the verdicts of 7 academics were not deferred as they did not accept the deferment of the announcement of their verdicts.

With her 15-month prison sentence upheld by the court of appeal, Academic for Peace Prof. Dr. Füsun Üstel was arrested on May 8, 2019 to be released on July 22.

Constitutional Court said "violation of right"

The General Assembly of the Constitutional Court examined the individual applications of 10 Academics for Peace sentenced to prison on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" for having signed the peace declaration.

On July 26, 2019, the Court ruled that the penalization of Academics for Peace on charge of "terror propaganda" has violated their freedom of expression.

The Court decided that a copy of this judgement shall be sent to all local courts in order to eliminate this right's violation and advised for retrial. The court also ruled to pay each applicant 9 thousand TRY in reparations.

Acquittals

After the new judicial year opened on September 2, the first verdict of acquittal for an Academic for Peace in accordance with the Constitutional Court ruling was given by the İstanbul 30th Heavy Penal Court on September 6. Since then, 27 courts have given verdicts of acquittal for Academics for Peace.

Constitutional Court ruling and its consequences

The ruling of the Constitutional Court stipulates that the local courts shall hold re-trials and give verdicts of acquittal in ongoing cases and for finalized sentences and the courts of appeal shall reverse the judgements in question.

The State of Emergency Commission, which has not yet given its decision regarding the applications of discharged academics, shall also take the Constitutional Court ruling into account. However, it can still give contrary rulings.

In the event that the Commission gives a decision against the academics, they will have the right to appeal to the Council of State. Though the Constitutional Court ruling is binding for the Council of State, any possible failure to withdraw the decisions of discharge will also be examined by the Constitutional Court.

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Statements of Academics for Peace

(TP/VK)