The Turkish government, after aborting the attempt of military coup that took place a few weeks ago, is adopting more and more repressive authoritarian measures to consolidate the power of President Erdogan, putting at risk the Turkish democratic system.
One of the most serious situations is the repression on the academic and educational sector, first with a wide purge of professors and scholars that are being fired and now, with the ban on Turkish academics to travel abroad until further notice.
The fact that the Turkish government wants to restrict the freedom of movement of Turkish professors and academics is really worrying. For them, it’s essential to move abroad in order to participate in seminars and conferences, to collaborate on projects and research in other universities... By restricting their possibility of going abroad, the government is not only putting at risk the right to academic freedom, but also the progress of the country, isolating the Turkish scientific community from international projects where they work. Please, join me to ask the President Erdogan and the High Education Board of Turkey to end the ban on academics from traveling abroad.
