Turkey: 91 Academics dismissed from Ankara University
Published:
Eğitim Sen’s President Prof. Dr Nejla Kurul and ETUCE Committee member on the country seat for Turkey was removed from her office at Ankara University with decree number 686 during the State of Emergency period and was reinstated in June 2023, only to be suspended once again from her position at the end of July 2023.
Similarly, despite the reinstatement decision of the Administrative Court, the reinstatement of Mr. İkram Atabay, General Secretary of Eğitim Sen, has been delayed for nearly seven months on the grounds of a security investigation and archive search.
ETUCE fully stands by Eğitim Sen and its claims that judges of the Ankara Region Administrative Court are openly ignoring the decisions of the Constitutional Court, The Heavy Criminal Courts, and the Administrative Courts. The signatories of these decisions are clearly preventing the application of constitutional rights from Eğitim Sen’s members. It’s the infringement of the ILO Conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining namely “ Freedom of Association and protection of the Right to Organise” and “ Right to Organise Collective Bargaining”.
ETUCE addresses the Minister of Education, the President of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) and the Rector of the Ankara University with its concerns its solidarity with the leadership of Eğitim Sen and its members. 24 of August 2023 the letter was sent, criticizing recent events that affected our Members and Turkish academics.
Likewise, the courts are issuing a stay of execution order against 7 Eğitim Sen’s science workers, who were once again separated from their students and faculties.
91 academics who were dismissed from Ankara University applied to the administrative courts for their reinstatement. 35 of them were rejected and 30 were reinstated, while 26 academics' applications have not yet been decided. However, Ankara University is applying to the Court of Appeal for a stay of execution against all academics reinstated by the Court. As a result of Ankara University's appeal applications, 9 of the 30 academics who were reinstated were given a stay of execution decision by the regional administrative court.
The past 6 years of unjust and unlawful persecution of education trade union members continue today with arbitrary and political decisions. ETUCE insists on the importance of social dialogue and correct implementation and involvement of worker representatives, in line with ILO’s Convention and Recommendation on Tripartite Consultation.