{"id":4258,"date":"2025-04-12T14:11:27","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T14:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/?p=4258"},"modified":"2025-04-12T14:16:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T14:16:05","slug":"let-them-leave-a-new-wave-of-academic-exodus-from-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/?p=4258&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"\u201cLet Them Leave\u201d: A New Wave of Academic Exodus from T\u00fcrkiye"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu and the cancellation of his diploma created a breaking point in Turkey that deeply shook not only politics but also the academic world. The increasing pressure from the government targets not only politicians but also academics and students. The young generation in particular is increasingly choosing to go abroad as a way out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019s Arrest and the Reaction at Universities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019s arrest on March 19, 2025 on political grounds and the subsequent detention of hundreds of students due to protests brought universities to the center of political conflict. Students began boycotting classes and protesting on many campuses from Istanbul University to Middle East Technical <a href=\"https:\/\/bianet.org\/haber\/iude-boykot-insan-dusunce-asamasinda-ozgurse-ozgurdur-305872\">University<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following these developments, more than 500 students were detained; It is reported that 299 of them are still under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fayn.press\/299-ogrenci-neden-tutuklu\/\">arrest<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Academy Under Pressure: Young People Seek Their Future Abroad<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Political pressures affect everyone. The fact that the administrative staff at universities are made up of people close to the government, the restriction of scientific freedoms, the pressure to publish, and the censorship of freedom of expression play a decisive role in young academics turning abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to a March 2024 study by the Sabanc\u0131 University Istanbul Policy Center, 63% of young people between the ages of 18 and 25 want to live outside of Turkey. The most frequently cited reasons are more freedom (20.7%) and not feeling safe in <a href=\"https:\/\/ipc.sabanciuniv.edu\/Content\/Images\/CKeditorImages\/20240329-10031779.pdf\">T\u00fcrkiye <\/a>(16.8%). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the same time, 44% of young academics stated that \u201cI want to continue my academic career abroad at the first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yeniasya.com.tr\/egitim\/genc-akademisyenler-yurt-disina-gocuyor_604282\">opportunity<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Political Climate Affects Scientific Production<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Universities in developed countries report a significant increase in the number of applications from T\u00fcrkiye. Universities in Germany, the Netherlands and Canada have begun to open new scholarship and guest researcher programs for Turkish researchers. Global solidarity programs such as \u201cScholar at Risk\u201d in particular are protecting academics from T\u00fcrkiye. This wave of migration does not only mean individual escape, but also a large gap in T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s scientific production capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Turkey is Moving Away from the Information Society<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While rising youth protests are seen as a hope, the current political climate is alienating young people from the country. Academia, on the other hand, is nothing more than a silent witness to this crisis. Most universities have refrained from making any statements regarding \u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019s arrest and the student detentions. T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s future is being shaped not only at the ballot box but also in university lecture halls. However, if these lecture halls continue to empty, not only today\u2019s knowledge but also tomorrow\u2019s knowledge will be silenced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu and the cancellation of his diploma created a breaking point in Turkey that deeply shook not only politics but also the academic world. The increasing pressure from the government targets not only politicians but also academics and students. The young generation in particular is increasingly choosing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/academicsolidarity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250412Academy.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4258"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4266,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4258\/revisions\/4266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academicsolidarity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}