Academics Arrested 4 Signing Petition Defending Kurds

[Anthea]

The New York Times

Turkey Detains Academics Who Signed Petition Defending Kurds

The Turkish authorities detained 14 scholars on Friday, accusing them of spreading “terrorism propaganda” and of insulting the state after they signed a petition denouncing the military’s campaign against Kurdish militants in southeastern Turkey.

Twelve scholars, from Kocaeli University in northwestern Turkey, were detained in early-morning raids on their homes, the semiofficial news agency Anadolu reported. Arrest warrants were issued for nine others from the university, and by midafternoon two of them had been detained.

All 21 scholars were among more than 1,000 academics from 90 Turkish universities who signed a public statement, “We Won’t Be a Party to This Crime,” that urged the government in Ankara, the capital, to end the “deliberate massacre” of Kurds caught in clashes between Turkish security forces and militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K.

Link to Full Article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/16/world ... .html?_r=0