CoHE's Initiative on Academics Facing Pressure in Europe for Supporting
Palestinian People
Erol Özvar, President of the Council of Higher Education:
"As the Council of Higher Education, we have taken the necessary steps
in the European Higher Education Area to execute the mechanisms
examining the topics of freedom of speech and university autonomy, and
to ensure the examination of the pressures on academics. We are
following this issue closely."
"It is important to keep this issue live on the agenda. In this regard,
we encourage the organization of a scientific event hosted by one or
more of our universities to discuss this matter. We find the pressure
on the academic community unacceptable."
December 14, 2023
CoHE President Erol Özvar said, "As the Council of Higher Education, we
have taken the necessary steps in the European Higher Education Area to
execute the mechanisms examining the topics of freedom of speech and
university autonomy, and to ensure the examination of the pressures on
academics. We are following this issue closely."
He stated that it was important to keep this issue live on the agenda and
said, “It is important to keep this issue live on the agenda. In this
regard, we encourage the organization of a scientific event hosted by one
or more of our universities to discuss this matter. We find the pressure on
the academic community unacceptable. It is important that Israel's
massacres against the Palestinian people are discussed in the academic
community in all its aspects and on every occasion.”
In his remarks, Özvar emphasized that a genocide has been taking place in
Gaza and that the Israeli government is trying to destroy the Palestinian
people in Gaza with all the military means at its disposal. He noted that
the Council of Higher Education and Turkish universities voice their
opposition to this crime against humanity in different venues and stated
that the Turkish academic community stands in solidarity with the
Palestinian people.
He pointed out that the pressure on academics who state their support for
the Palestinian people has increased in some European countries. He also
stressed that there are academics who wrote that they resigned due to
pressure on social media. Özvar reminded that Liz Magill, the President of
the University of Pennsylvania, who defended freedom of speech during the
demonstrations against Israel, was made to resign, adding that she invited
the entire international community, especially scientists, to take a stand
against these attacks.
Özvar underlined that the basic rule of academic life is freedom of speech
and reiterated that Turkish universities opened their doors to Jewish
scientists fleeing Nazi Germany before and during World War II. He called
on the academics facing oppression and said that Turkish universities are
open for them. "We are ready to welcome scholars in our higher education
institutions today who are subjected to Zionist oppression in the world,"
he said.