Dozens of Turkish civil society groups gathered in Ankara on Wednesday to demand the immediate release of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University PhD student who has been held in U.S. immigration detention for 40 days after peaceful protests against the ongoing Gaza campaign.

The Ankara Palestine Solidarity Platform (ANFİDAP) led the “Freedom for Rümeysa” press conference at at the Confederation of Public Servants Trade Unions (Memur-Sen) headquarters, where speakers decried what they called the systematic suppression of academic freedom and free expression under mounting Israeli pressure in the United States.

Academic Freedoms Under Attack

In a statement read in Turkish by Assoc. Prof. Nergis Dama and in English by Assoc. Prof. Recep Yorulmaz, the coalition warned that Öztürk’s arrest—conducted by masked Boston ICE agents—mirrors a broader crackdown that has seen over 1,000 international students lose visas or face deportation for non-violent pro-Palestine actions on U.S. campuses.

“Revoking the visas of peaceful protesters like Rümeysa and deporting them destroys the legal assurances that underpin academic life,” Dama said.

Solidarity and Political Context

ANFİDAP spokesperson Mustafa Eminoğlu highlighted that the arrests followed a wave of demonstrations against nearly 600 days of Israeli bombardment in Gaza, which has drawn criticism worldwide for war crimes. He charged that the Trump administration’s funding cuts to universities have emboldened a “witch-hunt” against students critical of Israel’s policies.

“This detention is not only an attack on one student but on freedom of thought itself,” Eminoğlu declared.

Calls for International Action

Speakers—including Nevzat Öylek, Ankara representative of Memur-Sen, and leaders from the Union of Academics and Writers of Islamic Countries (AYBİR)—urged European governments and international bodies to uphold academic freedom and protect foreign students from politically motivated reprisals. They pledged ongoing solidarity until Öztürk and her fellow detainees regain their rights.

“We believe the so-called free world will soon cast off the grip of Zionist barbarity,” the coalition concluded.

As international attention mounts, ANFİDAP announced plans for further demonstrations and letter-writing campaigns aimed at U.S. universities and policymakers. They called on President Biden’s administration to end the detention of peaceful activists and to respect the fundamental human rights enshrined in academic institutions worldwide.

The full text of the press statement is as follows:

We Won’te Be Silent!

THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION IS BEING DENIED IN THE LAND OF FREEDOM (!)

The unjust detention of young scientist and Tufts University Ph.D. student Rümeysa Öztürk, who was handcuffed by masked security agents from Boston Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is the latest example of fundamental human rights violations against foreigners in the United States. The way that Öztürk was taken into custody was horrible, as if she had been kidnapped. Dozens of students, including Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a student at Columbia University, had previously been arrested, and the number of students whose visas have been revoked in the last month has exceeded 1000.

The latest episode of Israel’s criminal record, the Gaza genocide that has been ongoing for nearly 600 days, has been protested on many US university campuses. Freedom of thought and expression and non-violent protests are among the basic human rights accepted by civilized societies. In this case, revoking the visas of international students in the US and deporting them violates human rights and destroys legal assurance.

The violation of international students' most basic rights through "witch hunts" and administrative decisions is unacceptable. In fact, this situation shows that the Zionist pressure on US universities and citizens has taken hold of the US administration. The Trump administration is becoming increasingly authoritarian and is cutting off universities' funding, which allows pro-Palestinian protests. This is one of the most concrete examples of how academic freedoms are being restricted.

The genocide against the Palestinian people in the Palestinian territories is reflected in other geographies as the genocide of thought. The genocide, in which no moral rules are recognized, regardless of women, children, and babies, is now being extended to the world of thought and academic freedoms, and the power of silence and non-reaction is being tried to be built. A fundamental principle of academic life is the free and fearless expression of ideas that do not contain hatred, do not provoke violence, and do not involve discrimination. Through the unlawful approach against Rümeysa Öztürk, “academic freedom” and “freedom of expression” in all countries, including European countries, are subjected to a strategy of destruction. Not only academia but also all groups that raise their voices against genocide feel this pressure. The occupation attempt, which was weak in the resistance of the Palestinian people against the Zionist occupation, this time aimed to hide its failure and injustice by oppressing and fearing the minds and intellectual world of academics. However, history is filled with countless examples where such despotic, weak, and discouraged attempts to ignore the will of the people have failed.

As Ankara Palestine Solidarity Platform (ANFİDAP), we condemn the treatments that Rümeysa Öztürk, Mahmud Halil and other international students are subjected to in the US. We would like to remind that the immediate restoration of the rights of students who want to exercise their freedom of thought and expression is also a requirement of academic freedom.

We believe that the days when the so-called free world is freed from the grip of Zionist barbarity and the occupied lands of Palestine are liberated are near. Until that day, the whole of humanity will unite and continue to resist against the oppressions and injustice. (ILKHA)