A group of academics from various universities across Turkey have joined calls for consolidated cease fire and demanded the end of the isolation imposed on the Kurdish People’s leader Abdullah Öcalan.

In a moving statement, some  two hundred academics from Turkey universities have expressed their strong opposition to the intensifying military operations, and demanded immediate enactment of unequivocal and long-lasting peace.

In their statement entitled “Call to peoples of Turkey”, academics called on the government to abandon its discourse provoking discrimination, enmity and conflict; the journalist to bear their responsibility to oppose to their colleagues who are taking side with the war policies and urged the parliament to enact legislations taking the resolution process under legal guarantee.

Academics underlined that the resolution/peace process which was formally started in January 2013 has raised hopes among all the peoples for the beginning of a new period after all those 30 years of conflict in the country, adding that academics in Turkey have supported each stage of the process during the years of 2013-2015 to contribute to this hope-giving process.

“We welcomed positively the formation of a wise people delegation and its works, enactment of legislation about the process in the parliament and the Dolmabahce agreement. However, the comparative studies we carried out about the other peace processes in the world demonstrated to us that these steps were not sufficient to build peace, that the process should have been supported by different delegations for a long lasting process and that the isolation on Abdullah Öcalan, who has been playing a main role in the process should have been halted as it was ensured for Mandela.

We also voiced numerous warning that the process shouldn't be sacrificed to internal and foreign policies of the government. We also remarked that the hostility against the Kurds that has historical roots in Turkey could only be ended through formation of Truth commissions and bringing into light the disasters of the past and those responsible behind these disasters ”, stressed the statement.

The academics went on voicing concerns over the re-emergence of a conflict environment today due to the government's failure to enact legislations in order to take the process under legal guarantee, and to enable the formation of institutions and delegations in order to warn the parties, assess the process, help relieve the public conscience and ensure the transparency of the process. Academics said the government also reduced the process to a rivalry between the political parties and to a domino stone in its policies regarding Syria, Iraq and Iran.

“Unfortunately, despite all the warnings issued by academics, NGOs , politicians and journalists, no measures have been taken against the spreading of the war in Middle East to Turkey which is today being dragged into a similar war”, said the statement.

We will not sacrifice our students to war

Citing examples from across the world, the academics stressed that losses increase further when the guns are used again following a peace process and that the resolution can only be effectuated through the enlargement of the democratic field.

“We have lost our students in Kobani and Suruç last year. We also lost dozens of young people just in one week. It should be known well that we will no more sacrifice any of our students and youths to war. In our view, no conflict can gain a higher importance than their lives and the future they will build”, stressed the statement

Call for consolidated cease fire

Calling on both parties for immediate consolidated truce, the academics said “We call on the government to abandon its discriminative discourse triggering enmities and conflict; we call on journalist bearing responsibility to decipher their colleagues who are taking side with the war policies and we call on the parliament to immediately enact legislation for taking the process under legal guarantee”.

The academics stressed once again at the end of their statement that nothing can be taken as more important than the lives of the young people and that the country will not survive if these youths do not. The academics said the only lesson the young people should derive from their writings must be that the war budget is taken from the pocket of the people and that only the poor die in the war.

The statements stressed that young people should free themselves from the feelings of revenge, wage a struggle to demand their rights, defend the truth against lies and never abstain from democratic actions and discourse.

The statement lastly called on all the academics, teachers, producers and consumers of information, all the women and men not to “be silent” when they are asked to do so, and to take side with peace, democracy and the truth.