JINHA

ISTANBUL – Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor has started a mass investigation into 1128 academics in Turkey who called for an end to the blockades of multiple cities.

1128 academics in Turkey signed a statement titled “We will not be party to this crime,” calling for an end to the Turkish state’s implementation of curfews and blockades in Kurdistan. Yesterday, the Istanbul chief public prosecutor’s Office of Terror and Organized Crime started an investigation into the 1128 on charges of “insulting the Turkish people and the Turkish Republic’s state institutions and bodies.”

Recently, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a statement calling the academics “traitors” and “ignorant.” He said that, “Those who eat this state’s bread and then commit treachery against it must be punished.”

The Council of Higher Education that governs Turkey’s universities also made a statement accusing the academics of “supporting terrorism.”

Several academics have been dismissed from their jobs or arrested, as prosecutors across the country begin investigations into signatories to the statement.

(fk/cm)