YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. Private Nişantaşı University dismissed 6 academics who signed a petition calling Government to end up conflicts in the south-east region of the country, “Armenpress” reports.

The University canceled the employment agreement with the academics after Turkish President Erdoğan urged all private and state universities to punish those who signed the ‘peace petition’.

“Hey, you so-called intellectuals! You piece of academic garbage! You are not enlightened persons, you are dark. You are nothing like intellectuals. You are ignorant and dark, not even knowing about the east or the southeast. We know these places just like we know our home addresses,” Turkish President Erdoğan had said last month.

It is claimed that Turkish universities have been pressure from the Presidential palace and the YOK, Higher Education Council.

The University sent a letter claiming that the academics spoiled the University’s image by signing the “peace petition”.

A total of 1,128 academics from 89 universities, both home and abroad, issued a declaration last Monday in which they called for the restoration of peace in the country. They urged a halt in the ongoing military operations in the southeastern region of Turkey and a return to the negotiating table to restart shelved talks with the Kurds to find peaceful solutions to the Kurdish issue.