“Our first concern is for people who have questions or need a listening ear,” says Rector Magnificus Frank Baaijens in a response to the situation. “Our university champions all its scientists, employees and students, and academic values and freedoms. The announcement that Turkish academics and Turkish students in the Netherlands may be called upon to return is worrying.”

TU/e is issuing no statement whether the call to return to Turkey extends to people at TU/e holding Turkish nationality. This is “to guarantee maximum anonymity,” reports board spokesperson Barend Pelgrim. For the same reason it has been said only that “a couple of dozen” Turkish staff and students are connected to our university, and no exact numbers are being quoted.

Students and staff can contact STU, the Onderwijs- en Studenten Servicecentrum (service desk for student affairs) via 040-2474747 or email: infopoint@tue.nl.  

TU/e endorses the statement made by the EUA umbrella organization for European universities in which the European universities express their condemnation of the actions targeting Turkish universities, their staff and students. Like all Dutch universities, TU/e wishes to draw attention to the importance of international academic freedom.

The Interstedelijk Studenten Overleg (ISO), the Netherlands largest national student organization, is deeply concerned about academic freedom within Turkey's higher education and urges that measures be taken. If doubts about academic freedom in Turkey persist, the ISO will argue for suspending the Erasmus program with Turkey.

On Wednesday Turkey's High Board of Education  banned all academics from leaving the country until further notice. This is one of the consequences of last week's failed military coup. On Tuesday the Turkish Ministry of Education suspended 15,000 employees on the grounds of their involvement in the coup. Among the dismissals were 1,577 deans and rectors of Turkish universities.