Academics resign en-masse

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Fifty-seven academics have resigned en masse from the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA) in protest of a statutory decree that annuls the institution’s autonomous member selection process while allegedly bringing it under tighter government control.

“Academies are organized through the principle that only independent scientists may decide upon the merits of [other] scientists, as in scientific issues,” the resignation statement read.

According to the new regulations, the government, the Higher Education Board (YÖK) and TÜBA will each appoint one-third of the member body. Before this, TÜBA members were appointed independently by individual members.

“Even if there may be differing views in the selection of members for the academy based on personal [inclinations], the question of who achieves the greatest success in reaching significant and unique conclusions in the field of research can only be settled with the smallest [margin of] error,” the statement continued.

The academics also said they were going to establish an independent and autonomous “Science Academy” association soon.