Dirty “cleansing”
Turkish science in a state of emergency
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
After the attempted coup in July 2016, the Turkish government imposed a state of emergency, which it used to conduct a broad “cleansing” operation of the universities. University leaders were replaced, and rectors who were not loyal to the AKP were dismissed. Thousands of professors, lecturers and academics were dismissed, forbidden from working, prosecuted, sent to prison or driven into exile. The current mood in Turkish universities is one of accommodation, fear and self-censorship. There are almost no signs of solidarity with staff who have been dismissed. There is no doubt that “academic autonomy and freedom of research” has now been consigned to the past.
(Osteuropa 10-12/2018, pp. 253–260)