The European Green Party is calling on Turkey to drop all charges against thousands of academics and release all political prisoners.
The hearings started in Turkey on December 5. In response, the Green Party’s co-chairs Monica Frassoni and Reinhard Bütikofer released the following statement: “The Turkish judiciary perseveres in its persecution of opposition leaders, civil society representatives and academics, in what seems a purge against all voices that are not perfectly aligned with the government.”
They also said Turkey’s Penal Court is indicting academics from several universities for signing the Peace Declaration ‘We will not be part of this crime’, with the accusation of being ‘an overt propaganda for the Kurdistan Worker’s Party/Kurdistan Communities Union (PKK/KCK)’.
“We European Greens express our solidarity to all accused academics and to the members of the Academics for Peace Network. We demand the Turkish authorities to drop all charges against them, as well as release all other political prisoners, from NGO workers to foreign journalists.”
