More than a thousand participants of the Seventh European Congress of Mathematics, the largest professional meeting of mathematicians on our continent, representing a community tens of thousands strong, took the opportunity of the congress's closing ceremony to protest against the current treatment of academics by the Turkish government.
The government-imposed travelling ban had a direct impact on the congress's scientific program, as valued participants were unable to attend.
Worse, many members of the scientific community have been dismissed from their jobs and will face further restrictions of their basic rights; the justifications for these infringements appear more than dubious. Such violations of human rights generally, and to scientists and teachers in particular, occurred repeatedly over the last century, in a number of countries. We all know their tragic consequences.
We express our solidarity with our Turkish colleagues and demand that the Turkish authorities treat their citizens in accordance with internationally recognised standards of liberty.