İştar Gözaydın is a professor of Law and Politics. She is also a founder of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly, a human rights organization in Turkey. She was a research fellow at the University of London, Birkbeck CollegeBirkbeck, University of London in 2009 and she was a Fulbright Program scholar in the U.S. in 1986-87. She was detained after December 20, 2016 in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt in Turkey in the summer of the same year. Following her detention she was formally arrested on suspicion of “being a member of an armed terror organisation” on the basis of alleged testimonies from a secret witness and an intelligence report. She was detained at Şakran prison, İzmir Province. Her arbitrary detention and judicial harassment were part of the FETÖ/PDY Investigation launched in 2015 by İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and Organised Crime Bureau Prosecutor’s Office into Gediz University, targeting several academics, following July’s failed coup. The investigation was based on allegations that these academics are either members, or connected to terrorist organisations. Several human rights' organizations had asked for action to be taken. She was freed after 94 days of arrest, in late March, 2017. Dr. Gözaydın was fully acquitted in 2018, however since her passport was nullified by the authorities, and have not been returned for a full three years, she had not been able to physically attend the Leibniz Professorship position that she was granted in 2018 at Leibzig University. She has been producing and presenting radio programs on law, politics and music at Açık Radyo since 1995 where she was one of the founding members. She has been attending Femfikir debate programs where national and international politics are discussed by a group of female experts since it was launched in December 2017 at Medyascope, an independent internet medium based in Istanbul. Gözaydın lost her beloved husband İskender Savaşır in June 2018 after a short episode of 4.5 months after a diagnosis of acute cancer. She was awarded the 2017 University of Oslo’s Human Rights Award, Lisl and Leo Eitinger Prize.
Belediyecinin Basucu Kitabi , a publication of Union of Local Administrations in Marmara Region, Istanbul 1994
Bir Toplumda Birarada Yasamak için Akilda Tutulmasi Gerekenlere Dair El Kitabi, a publication of MESS, Istanbul 1999
"Adding Injury to Injury", in Evil, Law and the State: Issues in State Power and Violence, ed. John Parry, Rodopi Press, 59-69, Amsterdam / New York, NY 2006.
“Diyanet and Politics”, The Muslim World, vol. 98, no. 2/3 216-227
“Religion, Politics and the Politics of Religion in Turkey”, in Dietrich Jung & Catharina Raudvere , Religion, Politics and Turkey's EU Accession, Palgrave-Macmillan, September 2008, 159-176
Diyanet: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'nde Dinin Tanzimi. Iletisim Yayinlari, Istanbul 2009
“Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı,” in John L. Esposito : Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, Oxford University Press, February 2009
“The Fethullah Gülen Movement and Politics in Turkey : a chance for Democratization or a Trojan Horse?:”, Democratization, vol. 16 no. 6, 1214-1236
“Religion, politique et politique de la religion en Turquie”, cahiers de l’obtic, décembre 2012-n.2, 4-8.
“Ahmet Davutoğlu: Role as an Islamic Scholar Shaping Turkey’s Foreign Policy” in Nassef Manabilang Adiong : Islam and International Relations: Diverse Perspectives, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013
Öztürk, Ahmet Erdi, and İştar Gözaydın. "Turkey’s constitutional amendments: a critical perspective." Research and Policy on Turkey 2.2 : 210-224.
Öztürk, Ahmet Erdi, and İştar Gözaydın. "A Frame for Turkey’s Foreign Policy via the Diyanet in the Balkans." Journal of Muslims in Europe 7.3 : 331-350.
