The prosecutor’s office of the Turkish province of Kocaeli authorized the detention of 21 scientists who signed a petition calling on the authorities to stop the violence in the south-east of the country, 12 of them have already been detained, reported Anadolu news agency.
Among the signatories to the appeal were world famous scientists – linguist Noam Chomsky, the geographer David Harvey, a sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein and others.
Turkish scientists are charged with “public humiliation of the Turkish people, the state, the government, the parliament, the court” and “propaganda of a terrorist organization”.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called scientists who signed the appeal as “ignorant” and the Supreme Education Council of Turkey announced that it would take actions against Turkish scientists whose signatures are standing under it.