Their slogan, "I want my job back," is elegant. It has raised the hopes of thousands of others like themselves. Across Turkey, other teachers and academics have joined in sympathy hunger strikes. Architect Arife Şahin (Duzce), teacher Nazife Onay (Istanbul) and others form this new phalanx of resistance. Groups of academics went on solidarity strike for 24 hours in Istanbul as did faculty and students from the Middle East Technical University. Silently, in fear, others admire Gülmen and Özakça.

An Ankara court on May 23 ordered the arrest of Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, whom Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu accused of being members of the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party - Front (DHKP-C).