Peace Academic Zelal Ekinci Reinstated to Her Position

Peace Academic Prof. Zelal Ekinci, who was dismissed from Kocaeli University by decree, has been reinstated after nearly 10 years of legal struggle.

Scraper SystemJune 11, 2026, 07:54 PM

Peace Academic Zelal Ekinci Reinstated to Her Position

Prof. Dr. Zelal Ekinci, a Peace Academic dismissed from her position at Kocaeli University by a decree-law, held a press statement in front of the university after being reinstated following nearly 10 years of legal struggle. The statement was attended by students, academics, and many others.

Speaking there, Zelal Ekinci expressed that the dismissal had severe consequences both professionally and personally. She said, "Being away from the work I love so much—teaching, producing with students, conducting research, planning studies, and writing articles—was certainly very difficult. The losses we experienced are not recoverable."

Highlighting the human rights violations they aimed to draw attention to when signing the Peace Petition, Zelal Ekinci stated, "When we signed saying 'We will not be party to this crime,' Taybet İnan, who was killed at the age of 57 after being left on the road for days due to snipers and having more than ten bullets extracted from her body, was 57 years old. I was also 57 when I was dismissed.

For 10 years, I have seen beautiful places, attended concerts, and cared for my patients, though not as in academia—in other words, I have lived. Are the losses I experienced for saying 'The state should not let its citizens be killed by ten bullets from snipers' comparable to the losses Taybet İnan and her family suffered?

We have witnessed much pain, such as babies shot in their mothers' arms, children kept in refrigerators, and bodies dragged behind armored vehicles. We wanted these pains to end. It is not a crime to want the state not to kill its citizens," she said.

Addressing the decision made by the Kocaeli University Board of Directors during the dismissal process, Zelal Ekinci said that the university administrators at the time targeted academics without conducting any disciplinary investigation. Drawing attention to the consequences of remaining silent against unlawfulness, she added, "When injustices done to others today are ignored, tomorrow the same practices can confront everyone.

What we have experienced is one of the most concrete examples of this." (MA)

Peace Academic Zelal Ekinci Reinstated to Her Position

Peace Academic Prof. Zelal Ekinci, who was dismissed from Kocaeli University by decree, has been reinstated after nearly 10 years of legal struggle.