Dr Elizabeth Lawrence
CEFTUS, a foundation which is established to promote Turkish studies, has gone beyond the boundaries of England, being considered one of the most active think tanks in Europe as well. The series of speeches conducted by prominent figures in the British parliament will be followed by a panel named “Academic freedom in Turkey”
The meeting will be on 29th of February, Monday. The panel will focus on the aftermath of an incident that took place on the 11th of January. On that day more than 1128 academicians signed a proclamation demanding peace in the political arena, which started a huge controversy and series of trials.
Gülseren Onanç
The meeting will be host by MP Keity Vaz who also hold the chair of presidency in internal affairs committee. CHP former vice president, Gülseren Onanç; Teachers’ Union President, Dr Elizabeth Lawrence; Middlesex University academic staff Dr. Janroj Keses; and Sinem Arslan from University of Essex will be speakers in the event.
The event will take place in the committee room,11 at 19.00-21.00. Those who would like to attend the panel can register through info@ceftus.org mail address.
Janros Keleş
In the proclamation signed by university faculty members from all around the country, the government was asked to ‘cease-fire’ and stop the curfew that was established in Diyarbakır, Cizre, which is made up of mostly Kurdish neighborhoods. The petition was supported by leading Turkish academics, as follows: Ahmet İnsel, Koray Çalışkan, Nazan Üstündağ, Gencay Gürsoy and Murat Paker; and some Foreign academics such as Noam Chomsky, Judith Butler and Immanuel Wallerstein also announced their support for the cause signed by 1126 academics in Turkey. However, the government and president Tayip Erdoğan reacted the proclamation very strongly, opening up investigations for many Academics; 20 or so academics had their offices and/or homes raided by police.
Sinem Arslan