and it only gets worse [verbatim]

and it only gets worse [verbatim]

“[DT] is a racist and he stokes racism in this country, and it does not just offend our sensibilities, it fundamentally changes the character of this country and it leads to violence.” Beto O’Rourke, 4 August

“I am the chosen one, somebody had to do it.” DT, 08/21

““Essentially [Greenland] it’s a large real estate deal. A lot of things can be done.” DT, 08/18

“They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they’re moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?” DT, 08/25

“If that perfect phone call with the President of Ukraine isn’t considered appropriate, then no future President can EVER again speak to another foreign leader!” DT, 09/27

“As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!).” DT 10/07

“[The Kurds] didn’t help us in the second world war, they didn’t help us with Normandy.” DT 10/10

free Tuna Altinel

Tuna Altınel, an associate professor of mathematics at University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 since 1996 and a member of Institut Camille Jordan, was incarcerated by the Turkish authorities on Saturday 11 May, 2019. Internationally recognized as a mathematician, he is also a professor who stands as a model in clarity and dedication. He is also involved in the defence of human rights through the “Academics For Peace” movement.

Tuna Altınel is being prosecuted by the Turkish justice system for signing a petition entitled “We, Turkish academics, will not be a party to this crime”, in January 2016. This petition denounced the intervention of Turkish military forces in the south-east provinces of Turkey since the summer of 2015 (UN HCHR report) and called for the resumption of talks in order to restore peace.

As he arrived in Turkey on 12 April during French academic recess, his passport was confiscated. He was then arrested and incarcerated on Saturday 11 May. In February 2019, he participated in a public meeting—organized by an association legally recognized in France—, aiming to raise awareness about the consequences of military intervention on the civilian populations. His participation in that meeting appears to be one of the charges held against him.

Sign the petition

in support of Turkish mathematicians

[Here is a call from the three French maths and stats societies about the Human Right violations in Turkey and in particular the dire conditions of academics in Turkish universities.]

The Scientific Council is outraged by and condemns the arrests, persecutions and dismissals of more than a thousand of scientists in Turkey for more than a year : teachers, academics, doctors and PhD students. There can be no great country without free and independent research. We therefore ask that our colleagues be released and reinstalled in their positions, regain their freedom of speech and may travel abroad. We also condemn the latest decree that removes the autonomy of universities. It cancels the elections of the presidents (rectors) of the universities, private and public, and allows the President of the Republic to appoint who he wants in their place, as happened at the Bosphorus University. We also encourage all initiatives, at the CNRS and in the French Universities, to welcome our scientific colleagues from Turkey who are refugees in France.

The three French mathematical societies (SFdS, SMAI and SMF) also express their solidarity with all their colleagues who are discriminated against in Turkey without being able to leave the country. They support notably Mustafa Kalafat, mathematician dismissed from his functions at the University of Tunceli and arrested on the Georgian border. He is currently imprisoned and accused to be linked to the Gülenists and the coup attempt of July 2016. They also remain attentive to the fate of Kivanç Ersoy, a mathematician at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul, accused of supporting terrorism for signing a petition for peace calling for dialogue and the cessation of armed conflict in Kurdistan. He is awaiting his appeal on December the 22nd, 2016.

freedom of speech in Turkey

“EUA condemns strongly and unconditionally this action against universities and university staff, and expresses its heartfelt support for the higher education community in Turkey at this time.”

Following the failed attempt at a military coup in Turkey last week, Erdoğan’s government has sacked a huge number of public workers, including all Deans of Turkey’s universities and 15,200 education staff so far. Plus barring all academics from travelling abroad. Although Erdoğan’s government has been democratically elected and while the Turkish people’s actions against the military coup led it to fail, the current purge of the public sector does not proceed from democratic principles and the current Turkish constitution and laws. Further, it sounds like the crackdown is aimed at all forms of opposition rather than at those responsible for the coup, as illustrated by the closure of websites like WikiLeaks, journals and other media.