On the Civil Struggle of Academics in Turkey: The Peace Petition Signers

On January 2016, a small Turkish organization of activists, Academics for Peace (AfP) called the Turkish government to stop its violent assault against the Kurdish towns and areas of Eastern Turkey and return to peace negotiations with the Kurdish leadership towards resolving the prolonged conflict between the Turkish state and its Kurdish citizens. The petition, signed by 2,000 Turkish academics from numerous universities both inside and outside of Turkey was titled: "We will not be a party to this crime." This was a direct reference to the severe attacks being staged by Turkey's army against the country's Kurdish population as of July 2015. The initiators held a press conference publicizing the call and the petition after which its signatories became a target of harsh and continued state persecution. To date, hundreds of these academics have been arrested, interrogated, dismissed from their jobs, stripped of their pensions and/or passports, and tried in criminal courts. This piece is not an academic article. Rather, it is my account of the still ongoing ordeal to which the Turkish state is subjecting the signatories of the peace petition, of the courageous civil struggle they are waging as individuals, and of their inspiring group solidarity. I discuss the context in which the activities of AfP have taken place and the specific steps taken by the Turkish regime against the academics who signed the AfP petition. I try to convey the solidarity practiced by the group of signatories in confronting their persecution. My discussion focuses in particular on the criminal proceedings to which the signatories are being subjected. I try to make sense of decisions taken by the judges, drawing on my research of 19th-century Ottoman legal reforms that laid the foundations of Turkey's modern judicial system. Within this context, the discussion raises questions about the disturbing use of the principle of "rule of law" in contemporary Turkey

On the Civil Struggle of Academics in Turkey: The Peace Petition Signers (revised version 250619)

On January 2016, a small Turkish organization of activists, Academics for Peace (AfP) called the Turkish government to stop its violent assault against the Kurdish towns and areas of Eastern Turkey and return to peace negotiations with the Kurdish leadership towards resolving the prolonged conflict between the Turkish state and its Kurdish citizens. The petition, signed by 2,000 Turkish academics from numerous universities both inside and outside of Turkey was titled: "We will not be a party to this crime." This was a direct reference to the severe attacks being staged by Turkey's army against the country's Kurdish population as of July 2015. The initiators held a press conference publicizing the call and the petition after which its signatories became a target of harsh and continued state persecution. To date, hundreds of these academics have been arrested, interrogated, dismissed from their jobs, stripped of their pensions and/or passports, and tried in criminal courts. This piece is not an academic article. Rather, it is my account of the still ongoing ordeal to which the Turkish state is subjecting the signatories of the peace petition, of the courageous civil struggle they are waging as individuals, and of their inspiring group solidarity. I discuss the context in which the activities of AfP have taken place and the specific steps taken by the Turkish regime against the academics who signed the AfP petition. I try to convey the solidarity practiced by the group of signatories in confronting their persecution. My discussion focuses in particular on the criminal proceedings to which the signatories are being subjected. I try to make sense of decisions taken by the judges, drawing on my research of 19th-century Ottoman legal reforms that laid the foundations of Turkey's modern judicial system. Within this context, the discussion raises questions about the disturbing use of the principle of "rule of law" in contemporary Turkey

Immunization with hepatitis B vaccine accelerates SLE-like disease in a murine model

"Hepatitis-B vaccine (HBVv) can prevent HBV-infection and associated liver diseases. However, concerns regarding its safety, particularly among patients with autoimmune diseases (i.e. SLE) were raised. Moreover, the aluminum adjuvant in HBVv was related to immune mediated adverse events. Therefore, we examined the effects of immunization with HBVv or alum on SLE-like disease in a murine model.NZBWF1 mice were immunized with HBVv (Engerix), or aluminum hydroxide (alum) or phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at 8 and 12 weeks of age. Mice were followed for weight, autoantibodies titers, blood counts, proteinuria, kidney histology, neurocognitive functions (novel object recognition, staircase, Y-maze and the forced swimming tests) and brain histology.Immunization with HBVv induced acceleration of kidney disease manifested by high anti-dsDNA antibodies (. p less than 0.01), early onset of proteinuria (. p less than 0.05), histological damage and deposition of HBs antigen in the kidney. Mice immunized with HBVv and/or alum had decreased cells counts mainly of the red cell lineage (. p less than 0.001), memory deficits (. p less than 0.01), and increased activated microglia in different areas of the brain compare with mice immunized with PBS. Anxiety-like behavior was more pronounced among mice immunized with alum.In conclusion, herein we report that immunization with the HBVv aggravated kidney disease in an animal model of SLE. Immunization with either HBVv or alum affected blood counts, neurocognitive functions and brain gliosis. Our data support the concept that different component of vaccines may be linked with immune and autoimmune mediated adverse events. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.