This professor spoke out against the Turkish state. Then she was forced to flee.

This is the story of Eda Erdener

She got out just in time.
(Image credit: Ikon Images / Alamy Stock Photo)

As the only faculty member at Bingöl University to sign the Academics for Peace petition, Eda Erdener thought she would probably be investigated, and braced herself for an appearance before prosecutors. What she didn't prepare for was Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly assailing the signatories — labeling them terrorists and traitors. She also didn't expect to see the partisan press publish personal details alongside her photograph, or receive online messages from the military police, or have a black Jeep follow her constantly.

A Turkish Tatar, Erdener has always felt strongly about standing up for Kurdish people and the "injustice they have been exposed to for years in Turkey." So she didn't hesitate to join the more than 1,100 scholars in Turkey who signed a petition entitled "We Will Not Be a Party to This Crime," also known as the Academics for Peace petition. The appeal condemned the Turkish government's security operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), declaring that it harshly affected Kurdish civilians, and called for the resumption of peace talks between the PKK and Turkish government.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.