NASA Physicist, Serkan Golge, a 36-year old American citizen, was arrested while visiting Turkey and charged as being complicit with the Gulen movement, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization that was complicit with the coup attempt that took place in July. The Committee of Concerned Scientists and Endangered Scholars Worldwide have issued a Joint Appeal asking for Golge’s release and that charges against him be dismissed.
Joint Letter of Appeal on Behalf of Serkan Golge, Imprisoned US Citizen and NASA Physicist of Turkish Descent
October 25, 2016
It has been over two months since Serkan Golge, a 36-year-old United States citizen of Turkish descent and a physicist with the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was arrested in Turkey. On August 6, 2016, we learned that Golge was formally accused of involvement with the Gulen movement, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization. According to one of Golge’s associates, we also learned, he has also been accused of spying for the US Central Intelligence Agency.
The Committee of Concerned Scientists has been monitoring Golge’s case from the beginning. So did Endangered Scholars Worldwide by making inquiries on a daily basis in an attempt to have Golge released and to have charges against him dropped. We have been in contact with the US embassies in Turkey and have written to the Turkish authorities requesting that they release the NASA scientist. We have been told that Golge is alive, though he remains in detention and is the subject of a pending judicial case. Unfortunately, his case has not received wide media coverage in the US.
Golge is a senior research scientist at NASA who has been studying the health effects on the human body of time spent in space. He has helped create models that predict the risk of cancer from galactic cosmic rays and has analyzed data from particle detectors on the space station.
We at Endangered Scholars Worldwide and Committee of Concerned Scientists consider Serkan Golge’s detention a flagrant and unjust violation of the freedom, security, and safety of a scientist who is clearly a victim of political witch hunt — arrested without cause, held for weeks in solitary confinement and without access to a lawyer, and subjected to physical mistreatment and psychological abuse.
Endangered Scholars Worldwide and Committee of Concerned Scientists strongly deplore and condemn the ongoing detention, persecution, and conviction of Serkan Golge, and call upon all international organizations, academic and professional associations, and other groups and individuals devoted to the promotion and defense of human rights to strongly protest and condemn this arbitrary incarceration, to call for his immediate and unconditional release, and to urge the officials of the Turkish government to respect, guarantee, and implement the provisions and principles of human rights as specified in international conventions and treaties to which Turkey has long been a signatory.
Please send appeals to:
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
President of Turkey
Office of the President
06573 Basbakanlik
Ankara
Turkey
Fax: +90 312 417 04 76
E-mail: contact@tccb.gov.trBekir Bozdağ
Minister of Justice
06669 Kizilay
Ankara
Turkey
Fax: +90 312 419 3370John Kerry
United States Secretary of State
Office of Foreign Missions
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520 USA
Email: OFMInfo@state.govSamantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
U.S. Permanent Mission to the United Nations
799 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017 USAJohn Bass
Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Turkey
Embassy of the United States
110 Atatürk Blvd. Kavaklıdere, 06100
Ankara, Turkey
Fax: +90 312 467 0019Bekir Bozdag
Minister of Justice
Republic of Turkey Ministry of Justice 06659 Kizilay
Ankara, Turkey
Fax: +90 312 419 3370
Email: info@adalet.gov.trYekta Saraç
Higher Education Council President
Yükseköğretim Kurulu Başkanlığı
Uluslararası İlişkiler Birimi
B-7 Blok, 5. Kat
06539 Bilkent
Ankara, Turkey
Fax: +90 312 266 4744
E-mail: cohe@yok.gov.trNabi Avci
Minister of National Education
Atatürk Bulvarı No: 98
06650 Bakanlıklar
Ankara, Turkey
Fax: +90 312 4188289Yaşar Halit Çevik
Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations
Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations
821 UN Plaza 10th Floor
New York, NY 10017 USA
Fax: +1 212 949 0086
Email: tr-delegation.newyork@mfa.gov.trZeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
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
Email: InfoDesk@ohchr.orgKishore Singh
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Email: sreducation@ohchr.orgDavid Kaye
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and
protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
Email: freedex@ohchr.orgFederica Mogherini
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy
European Commission
Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat 200
1049 Brussels
BelgiumThorbjørn Jagland
Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
Avenue de l’Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
France
Fax: + 33 3 88 41 27 99Philippe Boillat
Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law
Council of Europe
Avenue de l’Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
France
Fax: + 33 3 88 41 27 99
