Your Excellency:
I am writing to you as the Chair of the Committee on Human Rights of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) in the United States to express concern regarding our scientific colleague Dr. Serkan Golge, a detained physicist with dual U.S./Turkish citizenship facing spurious national security charges in Turkey. The Committee on Human Rights is joined in this request by xx other distinguished members of the National Academies, who asked that their names be added to this letter. As you can see from the number of signatories, Dr. Golge’s situation is of great concern to many Academy members.
Dr. Golge and his wife, along with his two young children, are residents of Houston, Texas, where Dr. Golge has been working as a senior research scientist at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Association (NASA) Johnson Space Center. He was visiting family in Turkey’s Hatay province when, on July 23, 2016, he was taken into custody. He is currently being held in Iskenderun prison in solitary confinement and has been accused of membership in FETÖ. Dr. Golge has denied this criminal charge and having had anything to do with the attempted July 2016 coup in Turkey. We understand that, while no credible evidence has been presented to support the charge against Dr. Golge, his requests for bail have been denied by the Hatay 2nd Heavy Penal Court. We further understand that U.S. consular officers have not been permitted to visit Dr. Golge in prison. The next hearing in Dr. Golge’s case will take place on September 14, 2017.
Our concern for Dr. Golge’s well-being is heightened by reports that his health has deteriorated since his arrest. He has spent more than 10 months in solitary confinement without explanation and is permitted to leave his cell to exercise only one hour per day. We understand that he has lost a significant amount of weight and was hospitalized with severe kidney pain for several days in June. His family was not informed of his hospitalization until just before his discharge.
Given the absence of credible evidence that he has committed an internationally recognized crime, we are greatly concerned that Dr. Golge is being arbitrarily detained in violation of Turkey’s international commitments, even taking into account the current state of emergency in the country. We respectfully urge you to use your good offices to ensure that he is promptly and unconditionally released from prison and that the charges against him are dropped. In the interim, we ask that you ensure that his treatment accords with the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules), including that he be removed from solitary confinement, provided with all needed medical treatment and care, and allowed regular access to his legal counsel, family, and U.S. consular officers.
We thank you for your attention, Your Excellency, to this important matter.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Chalfie, Ph.D.
(2008 Nobel Laureate, Chemistry)