AUC lecturer: ‘The UvA must protect academic freedom’

On January 30, Dayan left with a group of Israeli academics from the Israeli organisation Academia4Equality to attend the trials of the Turkish academics being prosecuted by the Turkish government. They stand accused of ‘making propaganda for terrorist organisations’ with a penalty of up to 7.5 years in prison.

In 2016, the academics signed a petition in which they pleaded for peace talks during the military conflict between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. The petition was signed over 2.000 times. Approximately 500 of the academics who signed have since lost their jobs, have had to hand in their passports or been issued a travel ban.

Why do you want to attend the trials?

‘We feel that the situation in Israel has similarities with the situation in Turkey. We too can be intimidated into silence. We are here out of solidarity. To assist, to support and to see how academics can help each other and work together.’

How are the Turkish academics dealing with the situation?

‘Some of them have fled abroad, but others came back to defend themselves. Their courage is inspiring. Some have been waiting for their case to come to court for quite some time… The law suits seem mainly meant to intimidate, to scare the academics out of the country and to destroy their careers. That’s why international support is important.’

What can the international community do?

‘Programmes for academics at risk should be given priority at universities. The UvA can certainly benefit from academics with a diverse background. In addition, universities should be aware of, and also spread awareness of, the intimidation of academics from conflict areas. The UvA must protect academic freedom in any way it can.’