Tuna Altınel is a Turkish mathematician, born February 12, 1966, in Istanbul, who has worked at the University Lyon 1 in France since 1996.Tuna Altınel, CV He is a specialist in group theory and mathematical logic. With Alexandre Borovik and Gregory Cherlin, he proved a major case of the Cherlin–Zilber conjecture.;
Altınel is active in the Academics for Peace movement, which supports a peaceful resolution of the conflict in south-eastern Turkey, and calls for the human rights of the civilian population to be respected.Peace Petition: "We will not be parties to this crime!", Academics for Peace Accused by the Turkish authorities of membership in a terrorist organization, Altınel has been imprisoned since May 11, 2019, at the Kepsut prison in Turkey. Article on Altınel's first hearing, on the Bianet website, June 10, 2019
Education and career
After undergraduate studies in mathematics and computer science at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Altınel received his doctorate from Rutgers University (New Jersey, United States) under the direction of Gregory Cherlin.Tuna Altınel, on the website Mathematics Genealogy Project. In 1996 he joined the department of mathematics of the university Lyon-1, as maître de conférences, and completed his French habilitation in 2001.
Altınel has written 26 mathematical articles, principally on the subject of groups in model theory, more particularly groups of finite Morley rank and the Cherlin–Zilber Algebraicity Conjecture, concerning the structure of the simple groups of finite Morley rank. He is joint author with Alexandre Borovik and Gregory Cherlin of a book in which this conjecture is proved in the case of infinite 2-rank, after the development of a body of machinery analogous to certain chapters of finite simple group theory.
Altınel's doctoral advisees include Éric Jaligot, winner of the 2000 Sacks Prize,List of Sacks Prize winners, on the Association for Symbolic Logic website. a prize given annually for an outstanding doctoral thesis in mathematical logicSacks Prize conditions, on the Association for Symbolic Logic website. (doctoral thesis supervised jointly by Tuna Altınel and Bruno PoizatIn Memoriam: ÉRIC JALIGOT, Adrien Deloro, Bull. Symbolic Logic 20, pp. 103–104, March 2014). He is active in the domain of scientific cooperation with Turkey; in particular, he was an organizer of an international mathematics conference held in Istanbul in 2016 in honor of Alexandre Borovik and Ali Nesin (Leelavati prize winner, 2018).73 participants from 9 countries. List of participants, BN-Pair Conference in honor of Alexandre Borovik and Ali Nesin
Political activities
Overview
Altınel has been an active supporter of a peaceful resolution of the conflict in southeastern Turkey and of human rights and civil liberties in Turkey.
With regard to the Kurdish conflict in southeastern Turkey, he was one of 116 academics who signed a 2003 letter in support of a peaceful resolution of that conflict,"116 University professors call for peace", Bianet website, March 13, 2003] (letter signed also by Füsün Üstel) among the first group of signatories of a similar peace petition in January 2016 that garnered 1128 signatures at the time of its promulgation under the title "We will not be parties to this crime," among the 132 intellectuals calling for assistance to those wounded in the conflict at Cizre,"Aydinlar_ve_sanatcilardan_devlete_Cizre_cagrisi.html "Intellectuals and artists call on the state on behalf of Cizre", Cumhuriyet, February 1, 2016 (Turkish); "We are ready to save those in Cizre if you won't," Bianet website, February 2, 2016; Cizre’de İnsanlık Ölüyor! "(People are dying in Cizre!)," Human Rights Association, Turkey, February 1, 2016 (Turkish) and one of 170 academics to sign a letter in 2018 opposing the Afrin operation."Afrin Operasyonuna hayır diyen 170 kişilik ihanet listesi! (The list of 170 traitors who say no to the Afrin Operation)," Akasyam News website, January 28, 2018, "Investigation launched against signatories of Afrin Letter" On February 21, 2019, he acted as translator for a former member of parliament of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) at a public meeting in Lyon, France, in which a documentary on the Cizre massacres was shown, followed by a discussion.
With the resumption of active conflict in August 2015 following a period of relative calm, Altınel reached out to the affected community and began to visit the areas involved in September 2015. "A man who has done his duty for this land, and for peace," Nurcan Baysal, Ahval News website, June 25, 2019; Gözlerini, aklını, kalbini kapatmayanlardan biri: Tuna Altınel (One who does not shut his eyes, mind, or heart: Tuna Altınel), Nurcan Baysal, Ahval News website, June 18, 2019 (Turkish) "August 2015;" "September 2017;" "never stopped showing his support"; His own account of these activities is quoted below, from subsequent court testimony.
With the trials of the signatories of the January 2016 petition and the broader wave of repression following the attempted coup of July 2016, described in more detail below, questions of academic freedom and freedom of speech become more prominent. Altınel's actions in this direction include a petition responding to the suicide of Mehmet Fatih Traş, an academic fired for his involvement with the peace petition (February 2017)Among the first signatories: "Turquie : appel pour la liberté des universitaires (Turkey: a petition for academic freedom)", Liberation, December 5, 2017; "Universitaires pour la Paix • Une pétition à diffuser (Academics for Peace: a petition to be circulated," Kedistan website, March 1, 2017; "Mehmet Fatih Traş suicidé par le régime turc (Mehmet Fatih Traş suicided by the Turkish regime)," Kedistan website, February 26, 2017 denunciation of the role of the Turkish research council TÜBİTAK in the state of emergency following the attempted coup d'état of 2016 (April 2017); the CNRS Scientific Council voted unanimously to recommend to the CNRS to reconsider its agreements concerning collaboration with TÜBİTAK (April 24–25, 2017)."Tübitak: organisme scientifique ou outil politique? (Tübitak: scientific organization or political instrument?)", Mediapart, April 17, 2017 (French). "This appeal by the Turkish mathematician Tuna Altınel ..."; "Recommandation: Les relations avec le Conseil de la recherche scientifique et technique de Turquie (TÜBİTAK)" (Recommendation: Relations with the scientific and technical research council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK)), CNRS Scientific Council, April 24--25, 2017 publication of a review article on the trials of the Academics for Peace entitled "Les procès contre les Universitaires pour la paix : extraits d’une comédie politico-juridique (The trials of the Academics for Peace: scenes from a politico-juridical spectacle)".Tuna Altınel, "Les procès contre les Universitaires pour la paix : extraits d’une comédie politico-juridique (The trials of the Academics for Peace: scenes from a politico-juridical spectacle)", chapter in Table of Contents, "Liberté(s)! En Turquie ? En Méditerranée ! (Freedom(s)! In Turkey? In the Mediterranean!"), Mathieu Touzeil-Divina, L'Epitoge, June 2018, Revue Méditerrqanéenne de Droit Public Vol. 9, , Part I: Freedom(s) of speech for our Turkish colleagues! petition in support of Academic for Peace Füsün ÜstelOne of first 63 signatories; Entry by Igor Babou on seenthis.net, cached at
These activities have led to two separate court cases against Altınel in Turkey and his social media postings have been used to justify the second of these cases."PKK propagandası yapan akademisyen tutuklandı (Academic who made propaganda for the PKK arrested)" IHA, May 11, 2019 (Turkish): "sosyal medya araştırmasında" (investigation of social media)
January 2016 petition and Academics for Peace
Altınel was one of the first signatories of the January 2016 peace petition entitled "We will not be parties to this crime!", which was promulgated by the Academics for Peace on January 11, 2016.Text of the petition "We will not be parties to this crime:, Website of the Academics for Peace; list of the first 1128 signatories of the petition (one missing: accessed June 20, 2019) (Turkish)
The following day, President Erdoğan publicly criticized the signatories, and within a few days 27 had been arrested."President Erdoğan: State of Emergency: "terrorist propaganda", "darkest of people", "enemy of the state", "pit of treachery"; "Turkish Academe Under Attack," Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, February 12, 2016: "treason" Turkish prosecutors to investigate academics over Erdoğan petition, Guardian news site, January 14, 2019: "treason", "fifth columns" At the same time foreign reaction was strongly supportive of the signatories."Turkish Academe Under Attack," Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, February 12, 2016: "chilling effect", "extremely worrying", "dismayed ... grave concern; Academics for peace: Foreign reactions (French): U.S. Ambassador, Germany, professional associations, international associations, PEN, etc.
The peace petition ultimately garnered 2212 signatures of academics, largely in Turkey. Altınel is one of over 750 signatories from the first group of 1128 such who have been prosecuted or sentenced as individuals for that act under Turkish Anti-Terrorism legislation, through June 2019, Academics for Peace—Hearing Statistics, accessed June 19, 2019 on a charge of "propaganda in support of a terrorist organization." Since 2016 Altınel has been an active and vocal supporter both of the content of this petition and of the civil rights of its signers.
In the second hearing in his case, February 28, 2019, at the 29th Central Criminal Court, Çağlayan Courthouse, Istanbul, Altınel testified that he had aided civilian victims of military operations that took place in the towns placed under military curfew:Translation of statement by Altınel, Feb. 28, 2019
The sentencing hearing for Altınel's trial for "propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization" in the context of the Academics for Peace Trials is scheduled for July 16, 2019.Lyon: Tuna Altinel, the mathematician arrested en Turkey, judged in July, Justin Boche, Lyon Capitale, June 10, 2019 (French)
2019 charge and imprisonment
On April 12, 2019, on arriving for a visit to Turkey, Altınel's passport was confiscated at the airport. On May 10 he requested a new passport at the Balıkesir prefecture and was taken into custody for interrogation and placed in pre-trial detention on the following day. It was learned later that a new charge had been filed against him on April 30, 2019, at the prosecutor general's office in Balıkesir.Article: Academic who acted as translator at PKK conference captured and arrested, Balıkesir Press Agency, May 11, 2019 (Turkish)
This new charge is "membership in a terrorist organization",Either the [PKK] or the legally registered Lyon Society of Kurds; not specified in published legal documents based on his participation on February 21, 2019, at a public meeting in Villeurbanne, near Lyon, France. This meeting was organized by the local Kurdish Society; a documentary was shown on the subject of the Cizre massacres and a discussion was held with a former member of the Turkish parliament, Faysal Sarıyıldız (HDP), now in exile. At that public meeting, Altınel acted as translator for the former MP.Cédric Villani, June 11, French National Assembly, in French with English translation.
On May 8 Füsun Üstel was incarcerated and began serving a 15-month sentence for signing the peace petition of January 2016. Altınel was arrested on May 11.Turkey, France to discuss Syria, strained bilateral affairs After his first hearing on the new charge was scheduled for July 30, 2019, he was released.2nd Central Criminal Court in Balıkesir. "First hearing for an Academic for Peace", Bianet website, June 10, 2019. (Turkish)
Reactions
Press reports