Home / Act against academics and civil society in Turkey
The President of the Party of the European Left, Gregor Gysi declares:
The Party of the European Left condemns the new act against academics and civil society in Turkey. On 16 November, two scientists from the universities of Boğaziçi and İstanbul Bilgi and civil society were remanded in custody. Altogether this concerns 13 persons: Turgut Tarhanlı and Betül Tanbay and Çiğdem Mater, Meltem Aslan, Ali Hakan Altınay, Yiğit Ekmekçi, Bora Sarı, Ayşegül Güzel, Filiz Telek and Yiğit Aksakoğlu. We express our solidarity with them and will also try to support the families of those arrested. Tayfun Mater, a former member of our party’s executive board and responsible for international relations for the ODP is the father of Çiğdem Mater, who was interrogated for 7 hours and was banned from traveling abroad, using telephone and computers. Çiğdem who was released on Saturday now awaits an indictment.
As a result of Turkey’s cooperation agreements with the European Union, the EU must take action against the Turkish government and immediately call for the cessation of such persecution.
