One of Turkey’s most prominent academic reformers, Kemal Gürüz, was arrested and jailed for the second time based on charges of participation in a 1997 plot. He is a retired chemical engineer and former president of both the Turkish of Higher Education Council (YÖK) and the Turkish science-funding agency TÜBITAK.The move was condemned by human-rights activists and some Turkish scientists, who say that it is part of a systematic intimidation of academics who oppose the growing influence of Islam in the country’s academic institutions.
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Ergenekon Trials in Turkey of Academics, Committee of Concerned Scientists, October 31, 2009
Secularist academic jailed in Turkey, Nature, 26 June 2012
President Abdullah Gül
Office of the President
Cumhurbaskanligi Kosku
Cankaya, Ankara, Turkey
Via fax to: +90 312 470 13 16
July 19, 2012
Your Excellency:
We are an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world. We write in concern about Dr. Halil Kemal Gürüz.
Dr. Gürüz is a chemical engineer, education administrator, retired professor, and former university rector. He was formerly president of the Turkish Higher Education Council and of the Turkish official science agency TÜBITAK. In June 2012, while traveling outside of Turkey, Professor Gürüz was informed that the police wanted to interrogate him. He returned to Turkey immediately and, on June 25, appeared at the Ankara Courthouse. According to the Turkish pro-government newspaper, Today’s Zaman, the court ruled in favor of Professor Gürüz’s arrest and ordered him to be remanded to jail for his supposed role in the 1997 alleged conspiracy against Turkey’s first Islamic-led government (“Ergenekon”). Professor Gürüz is already on bail based on 2009 charges of involvement in the same conspiracy. We understand from academic contacts that he is distraught and depressed by this new imprisonment.
To the best of our knowledge no credible evidence has been presented to support the serious charges brought against Professor Gürüz in 2009 and more recently in 2012. Given that a significant number of those arrested in 2009, such as Professor Gürüz, are intellectuals who support a secularist civil society, and that he has been outspoken in opposing attempts by Turkey’s current government to desecularize the country’s universities, these arrests appear to penalize the exercise of free speech.
Imprisonment without trial based the exercise of free speech is prohibited under international human law, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory, and the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Turkey is also a party. We are particularly concerned about this second imprisonment on charges that appear similar to those made in 2009 and for which Dr. Gürüz has already been released on bail. His willingness to return to Turkey from abroad to answer police questions show that he would respect the conditions imposed on bail.
We therefore respectfully urge you to intervene in Dr. Gürüz’s case to ensure that it proceeds in a manner consistent with Turkey’s obligations under domestic and international law. We also urge you to ensure Dr. Gürüz’s immediate opportunity for release on bail or bond pending the resolution of the proceedings, as we understand that Dr. Gürüz has not been accused of violence and poses no threat of violence warranting pre-trial detention.
Sincerely,
Eugene Chudnovsky Alexander GreerJoel Lebowitz
Walter Reich
Paul Plotz
Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists
Copies to:
His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
Basbakanlik
06573 Ankara, Republic of Turkey
His Excellency Sadullah Ergin
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
06669 Kizilay
Ankara, Republic of Turkey
Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, Ph.D.
President
American Chemical Society
Office of International Activities
1155 Sixteenth St. NW
Washington DC 20036
The Honorable Michael Posner
Assistant Secretary of State
Bureau of Democracy, Labor and Human Rights
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520 USA
His Excellency Namik Tam
Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the United States
Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
2525 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20008 US
The Honorable Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr.
US Ambassador to Turkey
Embassy of the United States of America/Ankara
110 Atatuerk Blvd.
Kavaklidere, 06100 Ankara, Republic of Turkey
Sir Nicolas Bratza
President, European Court of Human Rights
Council of Europe
67075 Strasbourg Cedex France
The Honorable Navanethem Pillay
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland