Turkey extends French academics' work permits following Erdoğan, Macron call

Turkey has extended the work permits of over a dozen French instructors at Istanbul’s prestigious Galatasaray University, who were facing expulsion after new regulations, T24 news site reported on Tuesday.

The work permits of 14 French teachers have been extended between three to six months following a phone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, it said.

The instructors over the summer had been asked to take a Turkish language proficiency test while waiting for their work permits to be renewed and only those who reached the advanced B2 level would be allowed to stay at the university, regarded as the flagship of Franco-Turkish cooperation.

The new regulation by the Higher Education Council (YÖK) arrived at a time of heightened tensions between France and Turkey over a string of issues, including Turkey’s military operations and Ankara’s territorial claims to offshore gas and oil in the eastern Mediterranean.

The future of six to seven French academics at Galatasaray continues to remain in limbo, T24 said. 

YÖK in a statement it released on the development said that the work permits of the other academics had been extended in a bid to allow the teachers to present their B2 level certification to the board.