A panel held at the SOAS University has witnessed the debate of the arrests being made in Turkey last weekend on Saturday 4 February.
The panel abbreviated as SPOT- Solidarity with People of Turkey received a high interest and featured many valuable names who were there to discuss such an important topic.
Among those were Kingston University’s guest researcher Dr. Seçkin Sertdemir, Writer for The Guardian Owen Jones, Morning Star journalist Steve Sweeney, Wales PEN writer Caroline Stockford and Director of Academics at Risk Stephan Wordsworth who attended.
The panel which saw many people attend also saw journalists and those from the media field who have lost their jobs because of being shut down or stopped from working. They included Global Culture General Broadcast Director Aydın Çubukçu, journalist and writer Mustafa Yalçıner, Bugün TV General Broadcast Producer Tarık Toros ve Bugün newspaper Broadcast Director Erhan Başyurt (these two media firms have been shut down) alongside these names were Turkish, Kurdish and foreign journalists. The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Üniversity which hosted the panel saw a very wide discussion take place. It focused on some of the academics and journalists and reporters in Turkey, particularly the rise of pressure shown recently, sudden raids, arrests and people in these occupations being charged. The aim was to find ways of how academics and journalists should come together and stand up against these acts in solidarity and with strength.
Speakers and listeners who took part in the panel, explained how they were following the worrying situations develop in Turkey and the decision of the British Government and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with AKP to work together in great surprise.
Following the panel SPOT made an announcement by advising possible way of support for the academics and journalists in Turkey. PEN advised that people should address their MP’s in the area they live in and influence them to join in with petitions and not hesitate in signing them
It was importantly underlined that both the listeners and speakers feel the British government should do more to support those being arrested and charged and to also be more active in influencing other EU countries to hold such panels.
At the same it was also said that the Journalists, MP’s and Head of Councils in Turkey and England could arrange a system with correct flow of information and early intervention which is possible. This will maybe be enough to stop the £110 million double jet agreement and use the money to do lobbying in Parliament and support media publications which have been attacked or shut down and left so many out of work.