Activists in Australia call on their government to 'break silence over injustices in Turkey'
As the health condition of Turkey’s jailed and dismissed educators Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça has come to a point of severe complications since they have left behind over 100 days on hunger strike, numerous public figures and groups in Turkey and abroad have been sharing messages of solidarity and calling on the government of Turkey to step up to address the issue fairly.
A recent statement came from Turkish and Kurdish descendants living in Australia, who addressed the unlawful dismissals of hundreds of thousands from public positions and demanded their return to their positions
Signed by members of Anatolian Cultural Center (ACC); Alevi Federation of Australia (AFA); Australian Turkish Cultural Association (ATCA); Melbourne Solidarity-Inc.(MS); Kurdish Democratic Community Center of Victoria (KDCCV); and, Add Your Voice To Protect Their Live Australia, the joint statement of the associations called on the government of Australia to ‘break their silence and to call on Turkish authorities to reinstate the tens of thousands of jobs lost’.
Below is the released statement:
Since the imposition of the State of Emergency rule in Turkey in July 2016, over 130,000 public service employees have been unlawfully dismissed from their jobs. Among these are Nuriye Gülmen, an academic, and Semih Özakça, a primary school teacher, who have raised awareness worldwide with their efforts in protesting these "unlawful reforms".
Demanding their jobs back, the pair began a peaceful sit-in protest in central Ankara, followed by a hunger strike that is now into its 109th day. Their plight attempts to highlight the desperate situation faced by tens of thousands of people who have been removed from their positions and effectively banned from finding other work.
Under the state of emergency, those dismissed from their positions are subjected to a lifetime ban from seeking employment as civil servants and face a range of social and professional hurdles. Their passports, and those of some of their spouses, have been cancelled as has their health insurance.
After increasing publicity of the hunger strike, prosecutors accused the pair of being members of a terrorist organization, an accusation that has been commonly used in Turkey since the coup attempt.
The pair was arrested on 23 May 2017 and a court has ordered that they be held in custody until they can face charges. Due to the tens of thousands of arrests in Turkey since the failed coup attempt, Gülmen and Özakça are likely to wait six months to a year before their case is heard.
The Turkish judicial system is using pre-trial detention in a systematic and arbitrary manner that amounts to a form of political punishment. Legal appeals against the detention of thousands of educators and journalists are rejected automatically, without receiving any serious consideration.
The pair continues their hunger strike in prison. They were recently diagnosed with Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (WKS) by medical professionals. While their health is in critical condition, the authorities have blocked them from receiving any form of medical assistance. Gülmen has been isolated from other prisoners and is now unable to take care of her own personal needs. This is another type of psychological punishment imposed on Gülmen who has limited mobility due to the effects of the prolonged hunger strike.
After the arrest of the pair, their families and many others who were dismissed from their jobs have also begun hunger striking to show their support.
Gülmen and Özakça’s plight attempts to highlight the desperate situation faced by tens of thousands of innocent people in Turkey at present. Their demands are simple and call on the Turkish Government to:
Reinstate Gülmen and Özakça and the thousands of people that were unlawfully dismissed from their jobs;
to provide these people with the legal right to an appeal process; and to let them out of the prison.
Therefore we, the citizens of Australia who preach a fair and equal society, urgently call on our Government to break their silence and ask that they call on Turkish authorities to reinstate the tens of thousands of jobs lost.
There should be an urgent action taken to stop the upcoming deaths of Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça.
There must be an end to their imprisonment.
The public workers who have unfairly and unlawfully been dismissed from their jobs should return to their jobs immediately.
Justice should be enforced on all citizens, not just to the ones in power and their supporters.
There should be an end to all the injustice going on in Turkey and all citizens should have the ability to live in a democratic society where they can live without fear.