Academics against the Illegal Turkish Invasion of North Syria
The following open letter has been sent to Dominic Raab, First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on 15 Oct 2019, and is co-signed by 83 academics from across the country.
We share this excellent initiative amongst many others (see riseup4rojava) urgently needed to boycott (info@boycott-turkey.org) Turkey on and from the Academia all over the world in order to get them to Leave Now! (fueraturquia@gmail.com) ¡Así No! Dominación Global. Pueblos en Camino
Dear the RT Hon Dominic Raab,
We write in relation to President Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops from Syria, which has prompted an illegal military invasion by Turkey of North and East Syria. This invasion has already triggered massive displacement of civilians, and threatens to lead to ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Kurds, not to mention a resurgence of ISIS.
The international community owes the Syrian Democratic Forces a debt for their sacrifice in stopping and defeating ISIS and building peace and stability in the region. They have lost over 11,000 men and women in the fight against ISIS, and have played a pivotal role on the ground in this struggle. Their efforts led to the liberation of millions from the grips of ISIS tyranny; moreover, everywhere they have gained control, they have established a “democratic confederal” system of governance which is noteworthy, even inspiring, for its commitment to women’s liberation as well as to multi-ethnic and multi-religious accommodation. In sum, they are our friends and allies.
Ever since the Kurdish-led forces’ heroic resistance against ISIS during the siege on Kobane in 2014, Erdogan has unleashed a ruthless and criminal campaign against the human rights of the Kurds both inside of Turkey and beyond the border in Syria. Inside his country, he broke off peace negotiations with the PKK and proceeded to imprison thousands of Kurdish politicians and activists, and to lay siege to dozens of urban localities, which led to gross human rights’ violations, including hundreds of deaths and close to half a million people displaced. Beyond the border, in the north of Syria, he has escalated from a brutal embargo to illegal invasion, first in Afrin in 2018, which included extensive bombing of civilian areas, and has led to ethnic cleansing and mass displacement. This new escalation, on the heels of President Trump’s decision to abandon the Kurdish allies, constitutes yet another illegal aggression and human rights atrocity, which has already caused hundreds of deaths, and has led to over 100,000 people displaced, while threatening more ethnic cleansing, even genocide.
We therefore call on the UK government to immediately condemn Turkey’s invasion.
We demand that the UK government take action to stop this illegal invasion by Turkey of North and East Syria.
We demand an immediate withdrawal of all Turkish troops from Syrian soil.
We call for an end to all arms sales to Turkey.
We call for a boycott of all Turkish goods and tourism.
We call for an immediate return to peace talks between the Turkish state and the PKK; and to that end, we call for the freedom of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan.
Given the gravity of the situation, we would appreciate an immediate response. We would be happy to meet in person to discuss this important issue.
Best regards,
- Dr.Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Lecturer of Political Sociology, University of Cambridge
- Dr. Les Levidow, Senior Research Fellow, Open University
- Dr. Radha D’Souza, Westminster Law School, University of Westminster
- Dr. Isabel Kaser, SOAS and University of Bern
- Dr.Derek Wall, Dept of Politics and IR, Goldsmiths College, University of London
- Dr. Camilla Power, Senior Lecturer, University of East London
- Dr. Chris Knight, Senior Research Fellow, University College London
- Dr. Thomas Phillips, Senior Lecturer, Liverpool John Moore’s University
- Dr. Amber Huff, Research Fellow, Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex
- Dr. Patrick Huff, Lecturer, Birkbeck, University of London
- Dr. Mark Bason, Research Fellow, University of Sussex
- Dr Sarah Glynn, academic and writer
- Dr. Angelica de Freitas e Silva, Senior Lecturer in Construction Law – School of Applied Management, University of Westminster
- Dr Vivian L Vignoles, Reader in Social Psychology, University of Sussex.
- John Drury, Professor of Social Psychology, University of Sussex
- Dr Simon Williams, Sussex Centre for Language Studies, University of Sussex
- Prof. Anna Stavrianakis, Professor of International Relations, University of Sussex
- Dr Robert Rosenthal, Senior Teaching Fellow, Director of Teaching & Learning
School of Education and Social Work - Helen Dixon, Lecturer and Research Associate, IDS-Global Studies, University of Sussex
- Dr David Davies, School of Law Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex
- Prof Clifford Stott, Dean for research, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Keele University
- Dr Fergus Neville, Lecturer, University of St Andrews
- Tommaso Ciarli, Senior Research Fellow, University of Sussex
- Shirley May, Data Manager, SHORE-C, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex
- Dr Catherine Will, School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex
- Dr Kamran Matin, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Sussex University
- Nuno Ferreira, Professor of Law, University of Sussex
- Luke Martell, University of Sussex
- Jim Endersby, Professor of the History of Science, School of History, Art History and Philosophy, University of Sussex
- Dr Naureen Durrani, Associate (Education), University of Sussex
- Dr Kate Howland, Senior Lecturer, University of Sussex
- Dr Eleanor Careless, University of Sussex
- Professor Janet Boddy. Professor of Child, Youth and Family Studies,
University of Sussex - Gordon Asher, Independent Scholar, Scotland
- Professor Stephen Linstead, FAcSS, University of York
- Prof. Haim Yacobi, The Bartlett Development Planning Unit University College London
- Leon Rosa Reichle, PhD student, Centre for Urban Research on Austerity (CURA),
- De Montfort University
- Sarah Jasmon, Manchester Metropolitan University
- Phil O’keefe, University of Northumbria
- Professor Mike Geddes, Associate, University of Warwick
- William A. Scarfone, Postgraduate Researcher, Centre for Research Architecture,
Goldsmiths University - Prof Nicola Ansell, Department of Social and Political Sciences, Brunell University, London
- Dr Thomas Dekeyser, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for the GeoHumanities, Royal Holloway, University of London
- Prof. Gavin Brown, Professor of Political Geography and Sexualities, University of Leicester
- Dr Panayiota Demetriou, Bath Spa University
- Dr Ersilia Verlinghieri, Research Associate, University of Oxford
- Dr Adam Fishwick, Senior Lecturer, Department of Politics, People and Place,
- De Montfotd University
- Dr Nick Clare, Assistant Professor, University of Nottingham
- Dr Carl Bonner-Thompson , Lecturer, School of Geography and the Environment
- University of Oxford
- Dr Marijn Nieuwenhuis, Durham University, Geography Department
- Nina Isabella Moeller, Associate Professor, Centre for Agroecology,
Water and Resilience, Coventry University - Professor David Whyte, University of Liverpool
- Dr Victoria Cooper, Open University
- Dr Michelle Farrell, Senior Lecturer, University of Liverpool
- Dr Gary Wilson, Senior Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University
- Dr Yinan Yin, Senior Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University
- Dr Karen Evans, University of Liverpool
- Dr Aoife Daly, Senior Lecturer, University of Liverpool
- Dr Rossella Pulvirenti, Senior Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University
- Dr Julia Bradshaw, Senior Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University
- Dr. Lina Dencik, Reader, Cardiff University
- Prof. Bart Cammaerts, Professor of Politics and Communication, London School of Economics
- Dr. Hannah Hamad, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication, Cardiff University
- Prof. Des Freedman, Professor of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London
- Prof. Natalie Fenton, Professor of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London
- Dr. Mike Berry, Senior Lecturer, Cardiff University
- Dr. Alex J. Wood, Lecturer in the Sociology of Work, University of Birmingham
- Prof. Mark Graham, Professor, University of Oxford
- Dr. Andy Williams, Senior Lecturer, Cardiff University
- Dr. Alex Prichard, Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter
- Dr. Peter Wilkin, Reader in Social and Political Science, Brunel University
- Dr. Torsten Geelan, Lecturer in the Sociology of Work and Employment, University of Leicester
- Dr. Waseem Yaqoob, Lecturer in History, Queen Mary University of London
- Prof. Sarah B. Franklin, Sociology Professor and ReproSoc Research Director, University of Cambridge
- Dr. Brendan Burchell, Reader in Sociology, University of Cambridge
- Dr. Monica G. Moreno Figueroa, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Cambridge
- Dr. David Lane, Emeritus Fellow, Emmanuel College, Cambridge
- Dr. Ruth Armstrong, Senior Research Associate, University of Cambridge
- Dr. Maria Iacovou, University of Cambridge
- Dr. Manali Desai, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge
- Prof. Christel Lane, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge
- Dr. Arsalan Ghani, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
- Dr. Johanna Riha, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health
Decolonise Sociology @ cambridge
October 16, 2019
Please find the Academic Boycott statement and initiative here: https://boycott-turkey.net/call-to-boycott-turkish-government-sponsored-academic-and-cultural-institutions-2/