How Turkey's academics became 'terrorists'

Yesterday morning, when I sat down to write this piece, a dozen academics in the province of Kocaeli were detained by the police. Moreover, news sites were noting, "more arrests are coming." Yet another wave of a Turkish witch hunt, in other words, had begun.

These academics were among the 1,128 people who recently signed a controversial petition against the government's war on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Titled "We will not be a partner to this crime," the short text condemned the Turkish government for committing human rights violations in its counter-terrorism campaign going on in certain southeastern cities and towns. It blamed the government for committing "massacre" against Kurdish civilians and called for an end to all security operations. 

Did I sign this document? No. Did I agree with it? No. For in my view, it was very one-sided. While it amplified the excesses of the state's counter-terrorism, it turned a blind eye to the terrorism of the PKK (such as the deadly car bombing of two days ago, which killed three children, along with a police officer). I also don't think that the state is carrying out a "massacre" against the Kurdish civilians. Civilians are, rather, being killed unintentionally as "collateral damage" by both sides, the state and the PKK, in a doomed conflict taking place in urban areas. 

Yet still, these academics, who include international figures such as Noam Chomsky, certainly had the right to voice their views, no matter how biased others might find them. Unfortunately, however, the masters of "New Turkey" don't think like that, for they don't believe in this stupid nuisance called "freedom of speech." They rather think that all "unpatriotic" speech should be silenced for good.  

That...