NPR

Turkish Government Crackdown Forces Intellectuals To Flee

Thousands of Turkish academics and other intellectuals are leaving the country amid the government's crackdown on dissent. The mass exodus is fueling a growing brain drain in the country.
Academics and students shout slogans during a protest against the dismissal of academics from universities following a post-coup emergency decree at the Dil ve Tarih Cografya campus of Ankara University last February.

Intellectuals are leaving Turkey in large numbers amid President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's crackdown on dissent after the failed coup attempt against his government in July 2016.

In the aftermath of that coup attempt, which led to the deaths of more than 240 people and the subsequent arrest of tens of thousands, the Turkish government also fired more than 100,000 people from their jobs, including

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