Eleven Research Assistants
who work in the Faculty of Communication at Marmara
University in Turkey – and who are also members of Egitim-Sen
(Education and Science Workers’ Union ) –
participated in a KESK (Confederation of Public Workers’ Unions) strike action
held on June 4 and 5, 2013. As a result of this participation, disciplinary
proceedings by the Rector of Marmara University against these assistants were
initiated. In addition to these proceedings, the number of proceedings on 15
different Research Assistants reached at 25 for 2 years since Prof. Dr. Yusuf
Devran had taken up the position as the Dean of Faculty of Communication.
The right to participate in collective action as decided by the unions of which public workers are members is recognized in the Convention on Human Rights, the Constitution as well as administrative judicial decisions taken by European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Thus, the strike action held by Egitim-Sen, of which all 11 Research Assistants are members, was not a criminal act, but, rather, it was an action guaranteed by both union and democratic rights.
In response to the press statement issued by Istanbul University Branch of Egitim-Sen, Prof. Dr. Yusuf Devran declared the strike action held by KESK to be unlawful, and stated that the 11 Marmara Research Assistants should be punished because they attended a legal strike action. Thus, Prof. Dr. Yusuf Devran’s statement was in direct contradiction to the Convention on Human Rights, the Constitution and the administrative judicial decisions reached by the European Court of Human Rights.
According to the statement issued by Prof. Dr. Yusuf Devran, the strike action was not about personal responsibility, nor individual rights and freedoms. The action was held simply in order to protest nation-wide police violence committed duringGezi
Park Gezi Park demonstrations) taking place throughout Turkey Tunceli University
for having taken part in the strike action, and another disciplinary proceeding
against Asst. Prof. Dr. Timuçin Köprülü, who criticized police violence in a
speech given at the Uludağ
University
We, the undersigned citizens, due to our academic, professional and humanitarian responsibilities, call upon the Marmara University Rectorship to withdraw these unlawful proceedings which have the hallmarks of an attack upon freedom of speech and assembly; to call upon Prof. Dr. Yusuf Devran, the Dean of Faculty of Communication, to cease preventing academic staff from exercising their constitutional, democratic and union rights; and, finally, to end the use of abusive investigations as a tool for intimidating Research Assistants (and other staff).
Because academic freedom means our freedom!
The right to participate in collective action as decided by the unions of which public workers are members is recognized in the Convention on Human Rights, the Constitution as well as administrative judicial decisions taken by European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Thus, the strike action held by Egitim-Sen, of which all 11 Research Assistants are members, was not a criminal act, but, rather, it was an action guaranteed by both union and democratic rights.
In response to the press statement issued by Istanbul University Branch of Egitim-Sen, Prof. Dr. Yusuf Devran declared the strike action held by KESK to be unlawful, and stated that the 11 Marmara Research Assistants should be punished because they attended a legal strike action. Thus, Prof. Dr. Yusuf Devran’s statement was in direct contradiction to the Convention on Human Rights, the Constitution and the administrative judicial decisions reached by the European Court of Human Rights.
According to the statement issued by Prof. Dr. Yusuf Devran, the strike action was not about personal responsibility, nor individual rights and freedoms. The action was held simply in order to protest nation-wide police violence committed during
We, the undersigned citizens, due to our academic, professional and humanitarian responsibilities, call upon the Marmara University Rectorship to withdraw these unlawful proceedings which have the hallmarks of an attack upon freedom of speech and assembly; to call upon Prof. Dr. Yusuf Devran, the Dean of Faculty of Communication, to cease preventing academic staff from exercising their constitutional, democratic and union rights; and, finally, to end the use of abusive investigations as a tool for intimidating Research Assistants (and other staff).
Because academic freedom means our freedom!
Signatures:
Noam Chomsky
(MIT); Judith Butler (University of California at Berkeley); Nancy Fraser (New
School for Social Research); Michael Löwy, Gerard Chaouat, and Gérard Groc (CNRS);
Vincent Mosco (Queen's University); Dan
Schiller (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); David Laibman (City
University of New York); Enzo Traverso (Cornell University); Claude Calame and Jérôme
Baschet (EHESS); Gazi Çağlar (HAWK Hildesheim); Erol Gelenbe (Imperial College
London); Joan W. Scott (Institute for Advanced Study); Kostas Skordoulis (National
and Kapodistrian University of Athens); Terrence McDonough (National University
of Ireland Galway); Martine Boudet (Réseau scientifique TERRA); Helmut Dahmer
(Austria); Christian Christensen (Stockholm
University); Adela Franzé Mudano (Universidad Complutense de Madrid); Nestor
Kohan (Universidad de Buenos Aires); Christian Haasen (Universität Hamburg); Christoph
Schroeder (Universität Potsdam); Samy Johsua (Université Aix Marseille); Sophie
Dushesne (Université de Nanterre); Gilles
Frapper (Université de Poitiers); Francois Gaudi (Université de Rouen); Leo
Glangetas (Université de Rouen); Jean-Philippe Heurtin (Université de
Strasbourg); Xavier Lambert (Université de
Toulouse II-Le Mirail); Daniel Thin and Olivier Neveux (Université Lyon 2); Eleni
Varikas and Fabien Granjon (Université Paris 8); Bernard Gerbier (Université
Pierre-Mendès-France de Grenoble); Clément Mouhot (University of Cambridge); Alfredo
Saad Filho, Gilbert Achcar, and Nadje Al-Ali (University of London); Korkut Alp
Ertürk (University of Utah); Okan Külköylüoğlu (Abant İzzet Baysal Üniversitesi);
Gülser Kayır (Akdeniz Üniversitesi); Aykut Çoban, Emine
Gül Kapçı, Gülay Toksöz, Işıl Ünal, Selda Öndül, Tülin Öngen, Baskın Oran (emer.),
and D. Beybin Kejanlıoğlu (emer.) (Ankara Üniversitesi); Levent Köker (Atılım
Üniversitesi); Ali Baykal and Zeynep Tül Akbal Sualp (Bahçeşehir Üniversitesi); Timur Karaçay (Başkent
Üniversitesi); Cemal Bâli Akal and Sibel İnceoglu (Bilgi Üniversitesi); Ersan
Demiralp, Kuban Altinel, and Nermin Abadan
Unat (Boğaziçi Üniversitesi); Nurçay Türkoğlu
and Yunus Emre Evlice (Çukurova Üniversitesi); A. Kadir Özer (emer.)(Doğuş
Üniversitesi); Nihayet Bizsel, O. Alp Ergör, Semih Çelenk, and Yeşim Edis Şahin
(Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi); Türkan Süren (emer.) (Ege Üniversitesi); Ahmet
İnsel, Füsun Üstel, Tolga Yarman, Yasemin İnceoğlu, and Özden Cankaya (emer.) (Galatasaray
Üniversitesi); Hakan Mıhcı and Simten
Coşar (Hacettepe Üniversitesi); Ferhat Kentel (İstanbul Şehir Üniversitesi); Ayşe
Şentürer, Belkıs Uluoğlu, Cengizhan İpbüker, Ergin Tarı, Hayrünnisa Dinçer
Ateşok, Ayse Erzan (emer.), and Mahmut
Hortaçsu (emer.) (İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi); Ayşe Güler Eroğlu,
Cihan Demirci Tansel, Fatmagül Berktay, Meral Kızıltan, Mihriban Özbaşaran, Özgür Kasapçopur,
Raşit Tükel, Tahsin Yeşildere , Tamer Demiralp, Tülay Erkan, Gençay Gürsoy
(emer.), and Şahika Yūksel (emer.) (İstanbul Üniversitesi); Cem Pekman, Kuvvet
Lordoğlu, and Onur Hamzaoğlu (Kocaeli Üniversitesi); Billur Yaltı (Koç
Üniversitesi); Ayşe Durakbaşa, Nihal Saban, Şükran Kuyucak Esen, and Ayla Zirh
Gursoy (emer.) (Marmara
Üniversitesi); Çetin Veysal (Mersin
The full list of signatures is available here.
To sign the petition
please send an e-mail to freeacademy@yandex.com with your name, surname, profession and organization.
Deadline is 11th September 2013.
