It is with great shock and distress that we hear of our colleague from the University of Sabanci, Ayse Gül Altinay’s sentencing to 25 months in prison for ‘willingly and knowingly supporting a terrorist organisation as a non-member’. Although primarily accused of joining the call "We will not be party to this crime", this Professor of Anthropology and Director of Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence (SU Gender) and editorial board member of the European Journal of Women’s Studies, was also targeted due to her writings and commitment on women's rights and gender issues.
While this sentence is to be read in the context of endless purges held in Turkey in the aftermath of the failed coup of July, 2016, it also reminds us that gender scholars and gender and feminist studies as a whole, are increasingly under the pressure of ultra-conservative and/or so-called "illiberal" governments, notably in the US and in some EU member states.
Hence, we stand in solidarity with our colleague and all the gender and feminist scholars threatened for their commitment for more equal and discrimination-free societies.
Source: http://www.sciencespo.fr/programme-presage/en/news/statement-support-ays...