Peace petition leads to arrests and university investigations

Hundreds of Turkish academics are waiting to find out whether they will be prosecuted or sacked for spreading “terrorist propaganda”, after they signed a petition calling for violence to end in Turkey’s southeast, where government forces have been fighting Kurdish separatists.

After the petition provoked a furious response from Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoan, several universities in the country have begun investigations into signatories among their faculty — which could lead to their dismissal if accusations of unlawful political agitation hold up. On January 15, police arrested and later released 27 academics, according to local media reports, including economists, physicians and scientists.

“We are accused of defamation of the state and of terrorist propaganda,” says Zeynep Kvlcm, a law professor at Istanbul University, who has signed the petition and said she knew of several arrests. “We are all waiting for the police,” she told Nature on January 15.

Turkey Accuses Scientists of Supporting Terrorism - Scientific American