İstanbul Municipality dismisses Academic for Peace

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The İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) has dismissed a former academic who was among more than 2,000 academics known as the Academics for Peace who were dismissed for having signed a declaration criticizing the government for human rights violations during the 2015-2016 conflict in the country's Kurdish-majority regions.

Fatma Gül Eryıldız-Şenvardar announced her dismissal on Twitter while the opposition-led municipality has yet to make a statement about the issue.

The IMM previously dismissed two other academics who had signed the declaration, Alcay Çelik-Alkan and Veysi Altıntaş.

All three academics were dismissed for "misleading the employer about their qualifications," as per "Code 42" of the Social Security Institution (SGK).

CLICK - Thirty-nine percent of Academics for Peace don't have a full-time job

The dismissals came after the academics were targeted on social media by pro-government accounts. The mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, is a member of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).

More than 2,000 academics, later to be known as the Academics for Peace, were dismissed from their positions and put on trial for "terror propaganda" after signing the declaration in question, which was entitled "We will not be a party to this crime."

Even though the Constitutional Court found in 2019 that the academics' right to freedom of expression had been violated, they have not been reinstated in their positions.   (RT/VK)