Turkey reverses course, releases some academics imprisoned on dubious charges

The pendulum of Turkish justice that has been crashing academics for their real and invented political dissent since 2016 has swung back. On July 26, the Turkish Constitutional Court, in a stunning reversal, ruled that sentences given to ten Academics for Peace who protested a massacre of Kurdish civilians by the Turkish army violated their freedom of expression.

The verdict has denounced the government charge of “propagandizing for a terrorist organization.” The accusation was aired in public speeches by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who repeatedly called the academics “traitors.”