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Expelled academic detained on suspicion of terrorism

PHOTO: DHA

Dismissed academic Cenk Yiğiter was detained on Friday at his home in Ankara on suspicion of terrorism, the Gazete Duvar news website reported.

According to his lawyer, the prosecutor imposed some restrictions on access to his case, a prosecutorial authority introduced after a coup attempt in July 2016.

He was among 1,128 signatories of the Academics for Peace petition published in several media outlets on Jan. 11, 2016, calling on the Turkish government to halt military operations in the predominantly Kurdish southeastern part of the country, which caused dozens of civilian deaths and the destruction of vast residential areas.

He was previously convicted of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and given a suspended sentence.

During a now-ended two-year-long state of emergency declared immediately after the failed coup, he was dismissed from his position at Ankara University Law School by a government decree.

He later passed the university entrance exam and tried to enroll in his faculty as a student; however, the university management prevented him from registering by changing the regulations.

“I am an expelled law expert. I am banned from publishing articles in magazines and attending scientific meetings. I am forbidden to work in the public sector. I am forbidden to work at a private university. I am forbidden to have a license to practice law. I am forbidden to enroll at Ankara University as a student. I am forbidden to hold a passport and go abroad,” he tweeted on Nov. 2, highlighting the government pressure imposed on dismissed public servants.

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