15 academics and scholars from Turkey were detained by the authorities for criticizing military operations against Kurdish rebels. Concerns were raised on the state of freedom of expression under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule.
Fox News reports that more than a thousand scholars and academics signed a declaration calling on the Turkish military and the goverment to halt the massacre of Kurds and refusing to be a party to the crime.
This crackdown on dissenting voices came after President Edrogan severly criticized the signatories and called the judiciary to task by taking action against the "treachery."
The Turkish president further stated in a CTV News report that the academicians declarations held an anti-state bias as it was using the same language as the "terrorists". The president also slammed the academicians' silence on the rebel group's violence.
Edrogan cites the car bomb attack on a police station in southeast Turkey, which included 3 children as fatalities, as the reason that he calls the scholars and academicians villains and vile. He said that "those who side with the villain are villain themselves." He called them "dark people" and doesn't see them as enlightened despite their titles of professor or doctor.
The United States expressed concern over the Turkish government's action against the scholars, believing that all citizens should be free to express controversial or popular views. US Ambassador John Bass further added "Criticism of government does not equal treason," and "The Turkish democracy is strong enough and resilient enough to embrace free expression of uncomfortable ideas."
The Turkish news website Hurriyet Daily News reports that the Provincial Police had warrants for 21 academics in the northwestern province of Kocaeli and 19 houses were raided with 15 of the academics detained. Meanwhile, in the northewestern province of Bursa, police were also able to detain another 3 dissenting academics.
The report further said that the academics are being charged with violating the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which makes it illegal to insult the Turkish nation, the State of the Turkish Republic or the Grand Assembly of Turkey and the state's judicial institutions. The academics are also being accused of spreading "terrorist propaganda" and of inciting hatred and enmity.
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