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| The Grand Turk |
| Turkey's post-coup brain drain |
| 2016-11-23 |
| [Deutsche Welle] After spending years researching abroad, Bekir Cinar returned to Turkey to as an academic. But this year, he was forced to leave the country again, when the university he worked at was shut down suddenly and many other academics were detained in the country. Just like Cinar, hundreds of academics who have worked overseas and returned to Turkey - only to become unemployed amid the government's post-coup purges - are leaving the country once again. Since declaring a state of emergency and enforcing various decree laws after the coup attempt, nearly 110,000 Turkish civil servants have either been dismissed or detained; 36,000 have been arrested. In addition, all academics were banned from leaving the country. Education has been a notable target for the Turkish government since July 15's coup attempt. Since then, the government has shut down 15 universities and around 1,000 secondary education institutions. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) confirms an uptick in interest in Germany among Turkish students and academics. Dr. Wiebke Bachmann, head of the DAAD in Istanbul, said that the number of students wanting to study in Germany has increased, as well as the number of academics wanting to continue their research in Germany. Nil Mutluer, formerly the dean of the Nisantasi University Sociology Department, was sacked for signing the Academics for Peace petition. She's been in Germany for a few months now, and is lecturing at Berlin's Humboldt University. Mutluer also said that many academics who signed the petition have left the country or are planning on leaving - warning that the phenomenon extends further. "This brain drain doesn't just include academics. Educated people, journalists, writers, artists, many people have left the country. I see many people from the middle class, businessmen, trying to find ways to leave. These were people who were happy in their county, who had studied abroad and returned home, and were living in peace. And I was one of them," she said. "But now it's not safe for us. We have to think of the safety of our children and their future as well." |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #1 The 'remaining drone' syndrome. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2016-11-23 12:22 |