Endorsement of EUA statement on recent events affecting Turkish academics
28 January 2016
In the light of recent events affecting Turkish academics, the Executive Board of the Coimbra Group, from our deep commitment to the fundamental values included in the Magna Charta Universitatum, would like to endorse the statement (reproduced below) made on 20th January 2016 by the European University Association, to which all our member universities belong.
EUA deeply concerned about Turkey’s treatment of academics
“The European University Association (EUA) would like to express its concern for the academics in Turkey being investigated for expressing their views, under the petition “We Will not be a Party to this Crime”, on the conflict in the South-East region. EUA would also like to underline that, irrespective of the content of the petition, freedom of expression is a core university value and a sine qua non of democratic societies. We therefore urge the government of Turkey to fully respect the right to express any opinion in public without censorship or restraint as well as the Higher Education Council (YÖK) to withdraw its request to the rectors to open up an inquiry on the signatories.
More particularly, EUA is dismayed by the detainment of some signatory academics – even if they were released on the same day – most of them from Kocaeli University, an EUA member.”