On February 4, 2016, The American Historical Association sent a letter to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressing “alarm and deep concern regarding reports of punitive measures and criminal investigations taken against Turkish academics who recently signed a petition addressing Turkish government policies in southeastern Turkey.” Clearly the situation has grown far more serious, and the AHA joins our colleagues in other disciplines and across the world in supporting academic freedom and institutional integrity essential to scholarship and teaching.

AHA Endorses Scholars at Risk Statement

The AHA, as a member of Scholars at Risk, and also as a scholarly body concerned with and committed to protecting the working environments and rights of historians across the world, endorses in full the statement issued by Scholars at Risk calling for an ongoing dialogue about and the restoration of legal rights to academics in Turkey.

AHA Signs on to Middle Eastern Studies Association Statement

Along with 40 other scholarly organizations, the AHA signs on to a statement issued by the Middle Eastern Studies Association calling for respect for academic freedom and the autonomy of universities in Turkey; offering support to our Turkish colleagues; and calling on diplomatic interlocutors, scholarly organizations around the world, and academic institutions to lend their support, as well.