News / Turkey

Turkey brings case against academics over anti-government petition

Thursday, 14 January 2016 5:00 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 14 January 2016 6:02 PM ]

Riot police use water cannons and tear gas to disperse Kurdish demonstrators during a protest against the military campaign and the curfew in the Sur district, Diyarbakir, Turkey, December 29, 2015. ©Reuters

Turkey has launched an investigation into the case of hundreds of academics who have signed a petition criticizing Ankara’s military campaign against members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the country’s southeast.

An Istanbul prosecutor opened the probe on Thursday, with the academics facing allegations ranging from “terrorist propaganda” to “insulting Turkish institutions and the Turkish Republic” and “inciting people to hatred, violence and breaking the law,” Turkish media reported.

Over 1,400 researchers and academics from Turkey and abroad have signed a petition entitled “We will not be a party to this crime.”

The petition calls on Ankara to return to the negotiating table to resolve the Kurdish issue and “abandon its deliberate massacre and deportation of Kurdish and other peoples in the region.”

It also urges the Turkish government “to lift the curfew, punish those who are responsible for human rights violations, and compensate those citizens who have experienced material and psychological damage.”

The petition further highlights the need for national and international observers to be given access to the country’s southeast to monitor and report on the incidents happening there.

Prominent American author and linguist Noam Chomsky and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek are among the signatories to the appeal.

Earlier this week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described those supporting the petitions as “ignorant,” claiming the country was again facing “treason” from “so-called intellectuals.”

A Kurdish demonstrator argues with members of Turkish police special forces during a protest against the military campaign and the curfew in the Sur district, Diyarbakir, Turkey, December 31, 2015. ©Reuters

Turkey’s southeast has been volatile since a shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 collapsed following the Turkish military operation against the militant group.

The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey said recently that as many as 162 civilians were killed in the restive regions placed under a government-imposed curfew since August 2015.

Ankara’s campaign began in the wake of the deadly bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc in July last year. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

After the incident, the PKK militants, who accuse the Turkish government of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces.

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