University of London 4 Gezi

As academics at the University of London, we would like to express our deep concern about the events taking place in Turkey.

In response to the protests in Istanbul, as well as in other towns and cities in the country, rights and freedoms are being severely curtailed.

In addition to what seems to be the deployment of excessive police force, we are witnessing a large number of arbitrary arrests, undue pressure being brought to bear on the Turkish media and, in a more general sense, serious infringements on the rights of assembly and free speech.

While we recognise that the Justice and Development Party is the elected government and possesses a strong popular mandate, we also believe that, as a democratic government, it should seek to guarantee the civil liberties of all Turkey's citizens.

We are particularly concerned with the uncompromising stance of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which will inevitably further inflame a volatile situation. Several leading academics and intellectuals in Turkey have already signalled their fears at the response to these protests and expressed their solidarity with those on the streets, many of whom are university students.

We join our colleagues in Turkey in calling on the government to respect basic freedoms and to resolve the impasse through dialogue and consensual politics rather than force and violence.

We believe only a peaceful resolution of the standoff can pave the way for the strengthening of Turkey's democracy.