66 courses left without academics at Ankara University after latest expulsions

ISTANBUL

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At least 66 courses have been left without academics and 38 undergraduate theses and 89 postgraduate theses have been left without advisers at Ankara University’s Faculty of Language, History and Geography after the government’s latest expulsions.

A total of 330 academics, many of them from Ankara University, were expelled with a new state of emergency decree published in the Official Gazette late on Feb. 7, drawing criticism from the opposition and the scholars themselves about the effect the moves will have on education.

Ankara University issued a statement titled “Balance sheet of destruction created by decree laws” after the sacking of the academics, noting the number of courses left without professors.

Meanwhile, another statement was issued by the Psychology Department of Ankara University, criticizing the sacking of academics.

“We as the Psychology Department from the Faculty of Language, History and Geography, have difficulty in accepting what is going on,” said in the statement.

Author Tanıl Bora has also abandoned his course “History of Thoughts” after 15 years at the university due to the sacking of his colleagues. 

At the same time, an Ankara court has ruled that signing the “Academics for Peace Petition,” a document that resulted in the firing of a number of academics, is not grounds for expulsion, daily Cumhuriyet has reported.

The decision of the court in the case of academic Abdullah Deveci has been described as a precedent for academics who have been sacked with decree laws.

Deveci, however, cannot return to his position because he was expelled with a decree law, which cannot subject to any judicial appeal.

Over 1,100 signatories of the petition demanded an end to government operations in southeast Turkey last year, eliciting the fury of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and resulting in the sacking of hundreds of academics.