Abstract
Autonomy and employment security, which existed in partially in Turkish Universities, have been completely destroyed in the last five years. Since 1982, the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) has been working as a supervisor, accreditation and controller duties for universities. The Council of Higher Education not only has the authority to supervision universities but also has to manage directly, while the universities under the control of the President until 2014 and is directed by R. T. Erdogan, the President after that date. The President of the Council of Higher Education was dismissed by Erdogan in November 2014 as a first in the history of the Council of Higher Education. Step by step, there was put intense pressure over universities.
After the Corruption Operations in December 2013, the Gulenists became the primary target and declared a public enemy. As in all public institutions, witch hunt preparations were made in universities and lists were prepared. During this period, the foundation universities, which were close to the Gulen Movement, were also under intense pressure and faced many obstacles. At the beginning of 2016, Peace Academicians became the second target group in universities, which signed a declaration demanding to end intense conflicts in Kurdish-dominated cities in Southeast Anatolia. Until July 2016, the boards of trustees of the foundation universities were dismissed with absurd reasons and these institutions were tried to be seized.
The first Monday after the dubious “coup attempt” in July 2016, deans at all universities were dismissed or push to resigned. A week later, 15 foundation universities were closed down and 2808 academics were laid off on the basis of the state of emergency authority. In the next three years, 6021 academics from state universities were suspended from universities with the accusations of being a Gulenist or Peace Academician. Almost all the laid off academics were detained and many were arrested. For the next three years, these academics could not return to their jobs, even if they were not prosecuted or acquitted. They have been hindered from suing the courts and these blockades are still ongoing. Turkish universities have become institutions where there is no academic assurance, are under absolute control of power, and where deep fear is dominant. With all these factors, an intensive brain drain is going on to the democratic countries.
The Institution Indexed to the President: Academy
In this article, we are going to tell the short story of the collapse of autonomy and academic freedoms that was also partially in Turkish Universities. Universities in Turkey were partially autonomous institutions and state university employees were guaranteed job security in the Constitutional right until 2014. However the constitution was suspended after Corruption Operations in Turkey in 2013 December as de facto. All authority, even if it is not given by law, is in the hands of the executive. Thus, the independence of the courts and the partial autonomy of the universities disappeared. According to the current Constitution, the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) controls and directs universities. This council was previously controlled by the President partly, at now totally![1],[2]
Before Erdoğan, the Presidents controlled universities indirectly through the Council of Higher Education and directly through rector assignments. If they wanted, they could dismiss the rectors with the proposal of YÖK. In the past, however, the Presidents acted according to custom and did not intervene directly in universities. Three months after becoming president, Erdogan, was dismissed the President of the Council of Higher Education Prof. Dr. Gökhan Çetinsaya in November 2014 and was replaced by Prof. Dr. Yekta Saraç who close to himself. This was an implementation that never existed before. Earlier Presidents did not dismiss even the Council of Higher Education Presidents, who clearly contradicted themselves, and waited until the end of their term. In this respect, Erdogan’s practices were purely aimed at creating pressure and intimidation. As a matter of fact, the Chairman of YÖK Supervisory Board was dismissed immediately after the questionable coup attempt.[3],[4]
With Erdogan’s presidency, pressure on university rectors has increased, and many university administrators and some rectors have been dismissed or forced to resign. No academician from Gulen movement could find new staff in universities. Those in administrative positions were removed from administrative positions. In this period, while the Constitution was not explicitly violated, academicians could not be expelled from their professions because they were explicitly declared in the Constitution. However, it was known by everyone that the liquidation lists were being prepared for all dissidents in different state institutions. From this date until July 2016, the oppression atmosphere all over the country increased gradually. A social scientist, Rumanian academician working in Turkey at that time, due to the comments in social media has been forced to leave Turkey and he was likened Turkish universities to Ceausescu’s Romania.[5],[6],[7],[8],[9],[10]
At the end of 2013, Erdogan was accused of corruption and Erdogan declared war on the Gulen Movement after his corruption was red-handed. After that, all the institutions associated with the Gulen Movement began to be repressed, and 15 foundation universities were subjected to intense repression and inhibitions. During this period, YÖK was acting careful against the universities and clearly did not want to go outside the law. However, many public institutions have done their best to prevent and destroy these universities. Erdogan and his supporters’ media targeted these universities directly and asked students to leave them. They also faced numerous obstacles and pressures to their campuses, such as stopping the buses of municipal buses, canceling building permits, seizing the land they had already purchased from the treasury by paying their money and not allowing the construction of new buildings. The newspapers and televisions that directly controlled by the government launched campaigns to close these universities on target and newspapers and the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) and its President were threatened and called for duty![11],[12],[13],[14],[15]
Before the dubious “coup attempt” in July 2016, faculty members of some state and foundation universities were detained and others arrested. Prof.Dr. Bahattin Adam the former rector of Mevlana University and 23 academicians were detained and some of them were arrested with an operation in Konya. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Fatih Karaaslan former Rector of Kahramanmaraş Sütçü Imam University, Hasan İbicioğlu former Rector of Süleyman Demirel University and some academicians and the Rector of Şifa University Dr. Mehmet Ateş was arrested on charges of ”membership in a terrorist organization, corruption, forgery of documents”. The accusations were “creating a parallel state structure” and being a member of a terrorist organization but there was no terrorist incident, the detainees were already public servants and they were doing their job in this office where they get completely legally.[16],[17],[18],[19]
In January 2016, a group of academics who named by own “Scholars Initiative for Peace”, (reached totallt 2212 signature from home and abroad), signed a criticizing statement that the state’s use of excessive force to quell the violence in the Southeast and the destruction of cities and civilian death do military actions that result in. The government and its supporter media accused the academics signing this declaration for treason, and soon the process of detention, dismissal and trial of these academics began.[20],[21]
Wie die Daten zeigen, hat das Erdogan-Regime Ende 2015 andere Lösungen gefunden, um Universitäten mit Dissidenten-Stiftungen zu schließen oder zu übernehmen. They canceled the agreements of the hospitals of these universities with the Social Security Institution (SSI) or did not renew the expired ones. Many of these hospitals because of the SSI monopoly on health services in Turkey were closed. They demolished or closed some hospital and school buildings with allegations of unfounded zoning. In June 2016, the operation was conducted against the foundation universities. The organized courts assigned trustees to the foundation universities with improper excuses and dismissed the existing administrations. They changed the management of these universities by the trustees.[22],[23],[24],[25]
The Total Demolition of Academic Life: After July 2016
However, the public opinion did not accept that academics and people from other professions were declared terrorists without resorting to any violence and purely fictional allegations, and Erdogan and his team were in a very difficult situation. In the meantime, the coup attempt of July 15 Erdogan’s words “as a grace of God” has reached the help of a similar approach seen in Hitler’s world, Decree-Laws (Decree Laws) were issued. With the first decree published as if these universities had made a coup or had little interest in the coup, 15 foundation universities were closed and all of their assets were confiscated. Before and after the coup, many of the rectors and other directors of these universities were detained and arrested. Thousands of academics have been detained in the intervening period and many have been arrested. These academicians were banned from working in other public institutions with the Decree Law.[26],[27],[28],[29]
While these were happening in foundation universities, similar things took place in public universities. On the first Monday after the coup attempt (18 July 2016), YÖK dismissed all the deans. On the same day, they summoned a number of non-rectors, whom they had dismissed, to Ankara on the same day and instructed the discontinuation of faculty and administrative staff who were thought to be related to the Gulen Movement. Already on the same day, they dismissed four rectors and three of them were detained. Nearly two years ago, the Prime Minister of the period “we will do” that “witch hunt” has reached the desired speed. Thousands of faculty members expelled from universities were added to the old ones by the Decree Laws published at every step thereafter. In the last two years until July 2018, when the state of emergency was abolished just on paper, the number of expelled academicians working in public universities was 6081. Even those who have not been sued or acquitted are not allowed to work in public institutions, and they and their spouses cannot get passports or leave the country. Those who thought this “State of Emergency” would end in three months were badly mistaken. The resulting state of emergency after two years when the “new” Erdogan’s regime was a dictatorship in Turkey had been removed on paper and all outstandings are now ordinary things.[30],[31],[32],[33],[34],[35],[36],[37]
There was no basis for these actions are not legally in Turkey has turned into a complete genocide. Nearly 2500 academicians who lost their jobs from foundation universities, and more than 6.000 academicians from public universities were expelled. People were exposed to ill-treatment as “terrorists” only because of their thoughts, most of them were detained and some were arrested. They were hindered from applying to the court to return to their jobs by the Decree Law, and there was no longer a court in the country that could be called a “court”.[38],[39],[40],[41]
This process aimed at destroying the opposition academics in Turkey, unfortunately, was institutionalized and the list goes on. It is a necessity for academics who can reach to democratic countries and hold onto life to tell this process to the free world, especially academics. This stands as a task that we academics should have. Unfortunately, all of this is reflected in the Western public opinion is weak and inadequate. This initiative is trying to make the world public as clear as possible. Let’s hope they succeed.
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(Art.No: 3.en)
