In a recent event held on Thursday, September 17th, the Advocates of Silenced Turkey (AST) organized an event titled ‘Yiten Canlara Vefa’, ‘Loyalty to Lost Lives’ at the New Jersey Baymont by Wyndham Hotel.
Beyond Turkey’s Borders: Unveiling Global Purge, Transnational Repression, Abductions
The Origins of the Problem
Turkey’s pursuit of alignment with the principles of the European Union has been marred by the government’s increasingly authoritarian tendencies, particularly since 2011. Regrettably, the country has witnessed a rapid decline, distancing itself further from the realm of modern democracy. Since 2014, Turkey’s Freedom Index score has plummeted due to a series of escalating assaults on press freedom, social media users, protesters, political parties, the judiciary, and the electoral system. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sought to establish personalized control over the state and society within a deteriorating domestic and regional security environment.
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied
PROLOGUE
This book is based on long-term observations, social events and what is being done to address human rights violations. It tries to be the voice of people whose rights are taken away, who are silenced and sent to prison in today’s Turkey. It tries to be the cry of silenced journalists. It touches upon the stories of lost lives. It reveals important neglects regarding minorities once again. It leaves a note in history as an archive.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 10/18/2022
MASS DETENTIONS IS A BRUTAL HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION. THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST RAISE ITS VOICE CALLING ON THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT TO IMMEDIATELY END INCARCERATING DISSIDENTS ON CHARGES OF TERRORISM.
In the early hours of October 18, 2022; 704 people were detained in 51 cities across Turkey. They are accused of helping the families of those purged who have been subjected to unprecedented persecution, dismissed from their public posts and arbitrarily arrested.
RELEASE AHMET ÖZKAN IMMEDIATELY
RE: AST URGES TURKISH AUTHORITIES TO RELEASE AHMET ÖZKAN and ALL THE ELDERLY and SEVERELY SICK INMATES IN TURKEY’S PRISONS.
Ahmet Zeki Özkan, a 65-year-old stage 4 cancer patient, has been arbitrarily imprisoned despite the medical reports stressing the severity of his condition.
Ahmet Zeki Özkan was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison for his alleged ties with the Gülen Movement and taken to Antalya L-Type Prison, after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict. Özkan had to stay in the quarantine cell for a week and because there was no bed he had to lie down on the floor. He caught the flu there.
Call on the Government of Greece to investigate and end the push-backs of Turkish refugees
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RE: PUSHBACK INCIDENTS AT THE GREEK BORDER
“We have a legal and moral obligation to protect people fleeing bombs, bullets and tyrants, and throughout history those people have enriched our society.” —Juliet Stevenson
Thousands of refugees fleeing their homeland due to violence, terror, or political prosecution use Greece as an entry gate to Europe. Since the beginning of 2014, over 1.1 million refugees have crossed the borders of Greece. (1) Growing numbers of refugees have begun to use Evros as a passage from Turkey to Greece.
In the last couple of years, a significant number of Turkish citizens have also begun to cross the border between Turkey and Greece and sought asylum due to the Turkish government’s targeting of dissidents belonging to different ideologies, particularly the Gulen Movement. Advocates of Silenced Turkey appreciates all the Greek government did to welcome genuine Turkish refugees, who have escaped in fear of their life and freedom. It is important to understand that those who are not able to leave are subjected to social death and are not accepted as fully human by the wider society.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BY THE TURKISH LEGAL SYSTEM
The intent of this report is to declare the victims of the ‘New Turkey,’ especially women with children who have been under persecution since the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. Although the Turkish government does not promote transparent data on the number of children imprisoned with their mothers, there are 864 children in the prison according to the Justice Department Prison and Penitentiaries Management. The ages of these children vary between newborns to 6 years, as of May 24, 2019.
ERDOGAN’S LONG ARMS: ABDUCTIONS IN TURKEY AND ABROAD
The Origins of the Problem
Turkey’s struggle to draw the country more in line with the pillars of the European Union faced a long and accelerating slide. The country’s Freedom in the World score has been in free fall since 2014 due to an escalating series of assaults on the press, social media users, protesters, political parties, the judiciary, and the electoral system, as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan fought to impose personalized control over the state and society in a deteriorating domestic and regional security environment.
SCIENTIFIC REGRESSION IN TURKEY IN THE AFTERMATH OF JULY 15th –1: ERCİYES UNIVERSITY
The alleged coup attempt of the July 15th struck the real impact in the field of education. The most important pillars of education, universities were closed, thousands of educated academics were discharged overnight without any reason, and even sent to prisons. This study analyzes the negative effects of the academic slaughter that took place in one of Turkey’s most reputable universities after the July 15th, The Erciyes University.
Erciyes University was founded in 1978 under the name of Kayseri University. It was renamed Erciyes University in 1982. Today, Erciyes University serves with 19 faculties, 1 college, 2 vocational schools, 7 institutes, 6 departments, 44 research centers, and an advanced practice hospital with 1350 beds. In addition to Gevher Nesibe Hospital, Cardiovascular Diseases Hospital, Organ Transplantation and Dialysis Hospital, Oncology Hospital, Children’s Hospital and Bone Marrow Transplant and Stem Cell Treatment Center are the most important health institutions of the region. Approximately 65,000 students receive education [1]. In addition, Melikşah University, which was closed unlawfully on 23 July 2016, was transferred to Erciyes University and the campus of MELİKŞAH University was named “Erciyes University, The July 15th Campus” [2].
The toll numbers reached 6070 just for public university academics in Turkey after the July 15th [3]. 2,808 academics in 15 terminated foundation universities were not included in this number. 144 people, namely 6% of the total academics, were discharged from the 2398 academics at ERCIYES University after the so-called coup attempt. The distribution of the discharged academics regarding their ranks has given in Table 1.
| ACADEMIC TITLE | #of DISCHARGED |
| Professor | 27 |
| Assoc. Prof. | 31 |
| Assist. Prof. | 35 |
| Instructor | 10 |
| Research Fellow | 40 |
| Expert | 1 |
| TOTAL | 144 |
Table 1 Academic ranking of the discharged professors at Erciyes University
Objective measurement of scientific contributions of academics is widely used to understand the quality of universities and countries in the world. Google Scholar [4] is an important open source where researchers can track their publications, citation numbers, and index values. In this analysis, the Google Scholar criterion was taken to examine the scientific contributions of the discarded academics. The average number of citations of the discarded academics was calculated as 891.83, which is quite impressive. For example, Professor SALİH ÖZGÖÇMEN has 10261; Assistant Professor KAZIM ZİYA GÜMÜŞ has 10159 citations.
In addition to that, an important demonstration of broad success to be underlined is that 24 academics have more than 500 citations, as well as 52 academics, have more than 100 citations. In addition to the number of citations, the index values of the dismissed academics were also examined. H-index is more reliable in measuring qualified scientific contributions since it measures the number of publications and citation efficiency together. Academic Data Management publishes the h-index numbers within the system. But instead of publishing all the academics, they list the first 20 with the highest citations in their field [5]. According to the current figures of the Academic Data Management System, the average h-index of 20 academicians with the highest h-index number of ERCİYES University is calculated as 14. The h-index average of the dismissed academics was found to be 13.10, which clearly shows their contribution to ERCIYES University.
Despite the fact that only 6% of the academics at ERCIYES University were discharged after the alleged coup of the July 15th, and all the facilities and infrastructure of MELIKSAH University were seized, a 17% dramatic decline in the ranking of the academic achievement in the world could not be prevented [10]. The above information shows clearly, how the alleged coup attempt impacted the scientific research in ERCIYES University and Turkey.
REFERENCES
1.https://www.erciyes.edu.tr/kategori/ERU -HAKKINDA/Tarihce/2/58
2.https://www.erciyes.edu.tr/Duyuru-Haber/ Kapatilan-Meliksah-UniversitesiYerleskesine-%E2%80%9CErciyes-Universitesi -15-/5579
3.http://bianet.org/bianet/ifadeozgurlugu/198990-akademide-ihraclar-6-bin81-e-yukseldi
4.https://scholar.google.com/
5.https://avesis.erciyes.edu.tr/raporlar/ atiflar/h-indeksi-en-yuksek-olanakademisyenler
6.https://www.haberler.com/40-yil-erzurum -da-hizmet-verdi-simdi-kayseri-nin-haberi/
7.http://drkuk.net/dr-kuk-hakkinda/
8.https://twitter.com/docmustafatutak/ status/1276919068621225984/photo/1
9.https://www.veteknoloji.net/haber/ elektromanyetik-dalgalara-etkili-kumas51455.html
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM TURKEY 2019 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT BY UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE
The United States Department of State released Turkey 2019 Human Rights Report which has critical points regarding human rights violations in Turkey.
For Example;
- As many as 100 persons, including former members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dismissed under the 2016-18 state of emergency decrees due to suspected ties to the Gulen movement, were mistreated or tortured while in police custody.
- 780 Children including children younger than six years of age were being held in prison with their mothers.
- The government did not release data on its investigations into alleged torture. Some doctors would not sign their names to medical reports alleging torture due to fear of reprisal. As a result, victims were often unable to get the medical documentation that would help prove their claims.
- On the three-year anniversary of the July 15 coup attempt, the government announced that 540,000 individuals had been detained since the coup attempt on grounds of alleged affiliation or connection with the Gulen movement.
- There were 41,000 individuals in prison for terror-related crimes. Of these, 28,000 were Gulen movement-related.
- The government exerts power in the administration of 90 percent of the most-watched television stations and most-read national daily newspapers.
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