Thread: Academics banned from traveling as Erdogan convenes cabinet, security council

Academics banned from traveling as Erdogan convenes cabinet, security council

Turkish academics overseas have been told to return home by Turkey's higher education board. It's also banned academics from leaving Turkey, say state media. President Tayyip Erdogan is chairing top meetings in Ankara.

Turkey under the post-coup grip of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan widened its purge of the military and police to include thousands more persons within the nation's education sector on Wednesday.

Turkey's Higher Board of Education banned academics from leaving for work trips abroad and urged those overseas to return home "within the shortest possible time," according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.

State-run broadcaster TRT said Istanbul University (pictured above) had already removed 95 academics from their posts.

Since Friday, some 29,000 government employees have been suspended, including more than 6,300 soldiers and 3,000 members of the judiciary.

On Tuesday, 21,000 teachers at private institutions had their licenses revoked.

The travel curbs on academics coincided Wednesday in Ankara with Erdogan chairing his first post-coup meetings of the national security council and his cabinet, and a resumption of Turkish airstrikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

Education board issues travel ban

The education board, which on Tuesday ordered the resignation of 1,577 university deans, told campus rectors they had until 5 August to "urgently examine the situation of all academic and administrative personnel linked with FETO," a derogatory acronym for the "Fethullah Terrorist Organization."

The Muslim cleric Fethulah Gulen, who has lived in US-exile since 1999 and heads what he terms the Gulen movement, has been accused by Erdogan's right-wing government of masterminding last Friday's failed coup.

Reacting to Ankara's bid to get him extradited, Gulen on Wednesday urged Washington to "reject any effort to abuse the extradition process" and denied any involvement in the putsch.

From exile in Pennsylvania, Gulen denies involvement

"It is ridiculous, irresponsible and false to suggest I had anything to do with the horrific failed coup," Gulen said.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama had discussed the request during a phone call with Erdogan on Tuesday.

Death toll raised

Anadolu updated its toll from the failed coup Wednesday, saying at least 173 civilians and 67 security force members were killed during Friday's violence.

Anadolu said Erdogan's main military aide, Erkan Kivrak, had also been taken into custody. If confirmed, he would be the second high-level presidential aide to be detained.

Air raids against PKK resumed

Anadolu also said F-16 jets had carried out cross-border air strikes against Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq's Hakurk region.
Wednesday's air raids were the first since the coup attempt in which several F-16 pilots were involved.

Erdogan is back in Ankara chairing meetings.

The coup bid has been attributed to disgruntled members of the Turkish army, which has borne the brunt of losses in renewed fighting against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Fighting resumed in July last year after a largely respected two-and-a-half year truce which had raised hopes of a final peace deal to end the three-decade conflict between Ankara and the PKK, which was founded by radical leftist students led by now jailed Abdullah Ocalan in the 1970s.

Paris Sorbonne University's Yohanan Benhaim said the resumption of fighting had been "disastrous" for both sides "as well as the civilian population," adding that the latest raids could be a sign that Erdogan had regained control of the military.

ipj/kms (AFP, AP, dpa)

Academics banned from traveling as Erdogan convenes cabinet, security council | News | DW.COM | 20.07.2016

Turkey losing faith in the European dream

Turkey losing faith in the European dream

Caught up in mounting internal conflicts, Turkey is gradually losing interest in its EU accession candidacy. Many Turks feel disillusioned, including the secular, pro-European elite.



For the last year, Turkey has been dogged by one of the worst domestic political crises in its history. It started with the countrywide protests sparked by the Gezi Park sit-in and continued with the Turkish government corruption scandal. It was then further exacerbated by the government's ban on YouTube and Twitter, which also greatly damaged Turkey's international reputation, especially in the European Union.

In light of these events, the results of the recent local elections in capital Ankara were surprising to many. Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) received 46 percent of the vote. This prompted the EU to issue a statement in which it urged Turkey to concentrate on reforms in order to meet EU standards.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's reaction to such criticism has been increasingly bolder and more dismissive. "The financial crisis, the global crisis, the Arab Spring and the events in Syria and Egypt show that the EU needs Turkey more than Turkey does the EU," he told reporters in Berlin in February.

Later, in response to the Twitter ban scandal, he said that he was indifferent to the international community's opinion - and that everyone would realize the power of the Republic of Turkey one day.


Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan (l), visiting European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso

Falling interest in the EU

Turkey has been a candidate for EU accession since 2005. However, the country's interest in Europe appears to be waning. This was clear in the recent Transatlantic Trend survey, in which only 44 percent of Turks claimed to be in favor of EU membership. This represents a large drop from the 73-percent in-favor response in 2004. Today, every third Turk is against EU accession, while 10 years ago this figure was just 9 percent.

Many see the reason for this in the drawn-out accession process. "No European country has ever needed this much time to become a member," commented a law student at Istanbul Bilgi University in an interview with DW. "Even after all these years, our chances are no better. On the contrary: the situation is increasingly worse."

The 24-year-old said she was completely pro-European in the past, but now she has her doubts. "The EU doesn't want us anyway - many of my fellow students share this view."

Following all the domestic political scandals, Turkey's citizens seem to be losing hope. One recently twittered, "Does the EU still consider the prospect of EU accession?" And another posted, "I hope Turkey will join the EU in the coming years. This would make living here easier."

According to businessman Güclü Gencer, Turkey's current economic situation is the main reason why "successful businessmen" are losing interest in the EU. Gencer himself is one of Turkey's top entrepreneurs.

"The Turkish economy has grown significantly in the last 10 years," Gencer told DW. "The EU, on the other hand, has been grappling with the financial crisis."

He added that he felt the EU had no plans to accept or reject Turkey, but rather simply wanted to maintain good relations.



Aydin: Turkey's secular elite is 'fighting for survival'

"We already have trade agreements between the EU and Turkey anyway," said Gencer. "Apart from that, I think that the EU benefits more from Turkey than the other way around. Turkey is in a very strategically important position - this will always be of help to the EU."

Domestic matters take priority

According to Senem Aydin, a political scientist at Istanbul Bilgi University, the EU currently doesn't enjoy great popularity in Turkey.

"This is partly due to the vague promises made by the EU and the unusually long accession process," said Aydin. "The people no longer believe that the EU is seriously considering Turkey's membership, especially because Turkey is a mostly Muslim country. They believe that Turkey can fulfill all the criteria but still won't become a member."

Aydin added that even the Turkish elite, which has always been in favor of EU accession, is losing its enthusiasm. "This is mostly due to the domestic political situation," she explained. "Turkey's secular elite is fighting for political survival, for maintaining what power it still has. The EU is out of the focus for both the general public and the elite."

Aydin described Erdogan's politics as "anti-European," claiming that Erdogan stopped thinking about the EU as soon as he realized that EU accession is not conducive to sharpening his political profile at home.

Nevertheless, it is still too early to talk about an end to Turkey's European dream, said Aydin. "Turkey is currently going through a period of great uncertainty due to its political problems," she explained. "The attention being given to foreign policy is very low. This means relations with the EU partly depend on domestic political developments in Turkey."

As long as the official negotiations continue, "the view to EU membership remains," she concluded.