Turkish scholar’s deportation threat exposes US immigration system’s racialized violence and geopolitical weaponization of academia

Indigenous epistemologies view exile as a form of epistemicide—violence against knowledge systems—where state power seeks to erase non-compliant worldviews. Ozturk’s deportation threat aligns with colonial patterns of silencing scholars who challenge dominant narratives, such as Native American academics like Vine Deloria Jr. or Māori intellectuals like Linda Tuhiwai Smith, whose work critiques state violence. The US immigration system, rooted in settler-colonial logic, treats foreign scholars as temporary labor rather than knowledge holders, reinforcing extractive academic hierarchies.

The deportation of scholars under political pretexts has deep historical roots, from the expulsion of Jewish academics under Nazi Germany to the McCarthy-era blacklisting of leftist professors in the US. Turkey’s post-2016 purge of 6,000+ academics under Erdogan’s 'KHK' decrees mirrors US tactics, revealing a global pattern of state-sponsored intellectual repression. The Cold War’s 'brain drain' from the Global South to the West set a precedent for today’s visa-based control over knowledge production, where scholars from the Global South are commodified until they dissent.

In Latin America, scholars like Pablo Neruda and Rigoberta Menchú faced exile for challenging state violence, framing deportation as a tool of cultural erasure. African traditions, such as Ubuntu philosophy, emphasize that a scholar’s exile is a communal loss, not an individual tragedy. In South Asia, the British colonial state deported dissenters like Bhagat Singh, while modern India continues this legacy by revoking visas of foreign critics. Ozturk’s case reflects a transnational pattern where academic mobility is conditional on political compliance.

Research on 'academic mobility regimes' shows how visa policies disproportionately exclude scholars from Muslim-majority countries, with approval rates for Turkish academics dropping 40% under Trump-era policies. Studies on 'epistemicide' (Sousa Santos) highlight how state violence against scholars disrupts knowledge transmission, particularly in fields like political science and Middle Eastern studies. The US's 'Extreme Vetting' initiative, later deemed discriminatory, explicitly targeted scholars from certain regions, violating academic freedom norms enshrined in UNESCO declarations.

Artists like Ai Weiwei and Pussy Riot have used exile as a medium of resistance, turning state-imposed displacement into a critique of authoritarianism. In Sufi traditions, the concept of 'ghurbat' (estrangement) frames exile as a spiritual trial that deepens wisdom, though this is co-opted by state violence when imposed. Turkish folk music and poetry, such as the works of Aşık Veysel, often lament exile as a loss of homeland, resonating with Ozturk’s narrative. The spiritual dimension reveals how state violence weaponizes cultural symbols to justify repression.

If current trends continue, the US may expand 'academic visa blacklists' to include scholars from BRICS nations, further fragmenting global knowledge networks. Scenario modeling suggests that AI-driven visa screening could exacerbate biases, flagging keywords like 'Erdogan' or 'Kurdistan' in research proposals. Alternative models, such as the EU’s 'Marie Curie' fellowships, prioritize mobility based on merit, offering a counter to US exclusionary policies. The long-term risk is a bifurcated academia, where Global South scholars are either commodified or silenced.

Turkish-Kurdish, Armenian, and Alevi scholars face compounded risks, as their identities intersect with state surveillance in Turkey and the West. Black and Muslim academics in the US report higher rates of visa denials under 'national security' pretexts, with little media scrutiny. The deportation threat against Ozturk—a woman scholar of color—highlights how gendered Islamophobia intersects with academic censorship. Marginalised voices are not just absent from the narrative but are the primary targets of the systems driving it.