The doors of Turkish universities are open to academics and students from Western educational institutions who lost their jobs for opposing Israel’s massacres in Gaza, the president of the Türkiye’s Council of Higher Education (YOK) has said.

"As president of the Council of Higher Education, I would like to address the scientists and students from Western universities who lost their jobs because they opposed the massacres in Gaza: The doors of Turkish universities are open to Western academics and scientists," he said, speaking at the opening of a conference titled “Gaza Genocide Attempt: Tellings of an Eyewitness” at the Social Sciences University of Ankara (ASBU).

The conference was presented by Ghassan Abu Sitta, the Palestinian rector of Glasgow University, who volunteered as a doctor during Israel's siege of Gaza and was prevented from talking about his experiences in some European countries.

"At the end of the 15th century, just as we opened our doors to Jews persecuted in Europe, just as we welcomed scientists under Nazi persecution and oppression on the eve and during the Second World War, we will be very pleased to welcome you today. In the coming days, we will organise an application page for this purpose with an announcement on the website of the Council of Higher Education,” Ozvar added.

"We will allow university professors in Europe, Canada and the United States who have been dismissed due to their humanitarian actions and international students who have been separated from their universities to continue their education in our country, including transfer or special student status, if they wish. From here, we make an invitation to international students studying in the West who have lost their jobs and studentship and invite them to this application process.”

Protests against Israeli massacres

Ozvar said that university academics and young people around the world are protesting against the massacres in Gaza with a conscience of humanity.

Explaining that university administrations, academics and students in Türkiye have also participated in these protests and condemned the genocide in Gaza, he said: “On the other hand, in the face of these peaceful actions of academics and students in the United States, Western Europe and Canada, the so-called defenders of academic freedom, freedom of expression and democratic rights, Western university administrations take anti-democratic and freedom-restrictive measures and apply great pressure on university members.”

Pointing out that Palestinian lands and the Palestinians living there are going through very difficult times compared to the past, he said that tensions continue in the region, which has hosted many civilisations throughout history.

Highlighting that more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli attacks, Ozvar noted that the number of Palestinians forcibly displaced from their homes exceeded 2 million.

Palestinian students at Turkish universities

He emphasised that Türkiye continues to defend the Palestinian cause on every platform, adding that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has always expressed Türkiye's support for Palestine in his speeches at international meetings, presented evidence of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories to his interlocutors and announced that Türkiye would intervene in the ongoing genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Ozvar said that as YOK, they opened the doors of universities to Palestinian students and academics who had to leave Gaza, adding that “many Palestinian students have been continuing their education in our universities as of today.”

Ozvar said that Abu Sitta witnessed the crimes committed by the Israeli army at Palestinian hospitals in Gaza and reported what he saw there to the prosecutor's office at the International Criminal Court in the context of its investigation concerning Israel.

Abu Sitta was prevented, however, from speaking about this in certain European countries.

Violation of freedom of expression

“This is a clear violation of freedom of expression and another example of the double standards of many Western countries. Your (Abu Sitta) visits have revealed the double standards in the West like a litmus paper. We invited you to Türkiye. Please freely express all the events you witnessed, which are not allowed in the Schengen countries,” said Ozvar.

ASBU Rector Musa Kazim Arican also stressed the importance of Abu Sitta's narration of his testimonies in Gaza at the conference, hoping that "It will be a program that heralds a free Palestine."

Israel has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians in Palestine's Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on October 7 last year, which killed around 1,200 people.

The military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into ruins, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of famine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than a million displaced Palestinians had sought refuge.