Detained Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fikret Başkaya Released

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77-year-old academic and writer Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fikret Başkaya was detained from his home in Ankara today (November 27) at 6:30 a.m.

Founded by Başkaya, Özgür Üniversite (Free University) declared his release at 11:30 a.m.

Sealing order on the file

Republican People’s Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Barış Yarkadaş has announced the detention on his Twitter account.

Stating that no information has been provided due to the sealing order on Başkaya’s file, Yarkadaş said that there are detention warrants for 20 more people.

Yarkadaş shared the following messages:

* The police searching Fikret Başkaya’s home took a book titled “Paradigmanın İflası” (Failure of Paradigm) and his cell phone with them.

* There are reportedly 20 detention warrants as part of the file in which Başkaya has been detained.

* If you had invited Dr. Başkaya, he would have come to the prosecutor’s office. He said that the police came to his home. Then the following incidents happened:

* A police officer comes to Başkaya’s home. The officer leaves a note to his neighbor as he was absent. Başkaya calls his lawyer upon this incident.

* The lawyer goes to the prosecutor’s office to have some information. Başkaya was waiting at his home since he was not informed and this morning he was detained.

* Fikret Başkaya is an honorable intellectual of our country. His whole life has passed in misery. He is a scientist who was sent to prison over his writings.

* Medical condition of F. Başkaya, who had by-pass two years ago and use a lot of medicine, must be taken into consideration.

About Fikret Başkaya

Başkaya was born in 1940 in Denizli province. He graduated from the departments of finance and economy in Faculty of Political Sciences at Ankara University. He completed his doctorate studies at universities of Paris and Poitiers. He did a lot of studies on underdevelopment, imperialism and problems in transition from capitalism to socialism.

After he returned to Turkey, he was exiled to Oltu, Erzurum being considered “unfavorable private” from Officer Candidate School where he was doing his mandatory military service. He worked as researcher at various institutions after his military service ended. He gave economy lectures at Social Services Academy for a while.

He was sentenced to 20 months in prison on charge of opposing to Law on Anti-Terror due to his book called “Paradigmanın İflası” as he was an academic member in the faculty of economy at Abant İzzet Baysal University. He did time in Haymana Closed Prison.

In 2004, Başkaya faced up to 3 years in prison on charge of “insulting legal personality of the state” due to his articles he included in his book called “Akıntıya Karşı Yazılar” (Articles Against the Current”. Ankara 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance ordered his acquittal ruling that Başkaya “remained within the limits of criticism” in 2005. 

In 2006, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism included Başkaya’s book “Paradigmanın İflası” in its audio book project.

Başkaya has been giving lectures at Özgür Üniversite (Free University), which he founded, since 2007. (EKN/TK)