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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.
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