FROM İSTANBUL UNIVERSITY TO BOĞAZİÇİ

‘We are here, we don’t give up’

Students of İstanbul University gathered in Beyazıt Square to express their support for the students of Boğaziçi University in their protest: “Our struggle goes beyond the boundaries of Boğaziçi; all appointed university presidents must resign.”

İstanbul

* Photos: Behram Evlice

Click to read the article in Turkish

The protest against the appointment of Prof. Melih Bulu to Boğaziçi as the university president by President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan still continues.

The students of İstanbul University gathered in Beyazıt Square in front of their main campus today (January 11) and expressed their solidarity and support for the students of Boğaziçi University.

While the square was closed by the police, the students called on Prof. Mahmut Ak, the president of their own university, to resign as well:

"We derive our strength from our righteous objections and legitimate demands. We are against appointed university presidents. Our demands are legitimate, our objections are righteous.

"Our struggle goes well beyond the boundaries of Boğaziçi University. We demand the immediate resignation of all university presidents appointed as trustees. Then, we demand a democratic election where the constituents of all universities take part. We will continue struggling; we don't give up, we are here, we don't accept trustee university presidents."

Boğaziçi öğrencileri olarak İstanbul Üniversitesi'nden arkadaşlarımızla beraber bir kez daha itirazlarımızı ve taleplerimizi dile getirdik,kayyum rektörlere karşı mücadelemize devam ediyoruz.#RektörlükSeçimleriYapılsın #YaşasınÖğrenciDayanışması #KayyumRektörIstemiyoruz pic.twitter.com/fmTZqZMTGI
— Boğaziçi Dayanışması (@boundayanisma) January 11, 2021

The faculty members of Boğaziçi University, as they previously announced, also kept on protesting the appointment by turning their backs to the University President's office at the South Campus in İstanbul.

As for the students of Boğaziçi, they marched from the Atatürk Institute to the University President's Office. Gathering in the square of the South Campus, students "cooked halva for the university president's office," replicating a ritual performed in Turkey after someone's death.

11.01.2021 : Behram Evlice

Atatürk Enstitüsü'nden rektörlük binasına doğru gidiyoruz!

Canlı yayın linki: https://t.co/gVVKuUQpX5 #KabulEtmiyoruzVazgecmiyoruz #BogaziciSecimTalepEdiyor pic.twitter.com/eeEVNwrtTy
— Boğaziçi Direnişi (@budirenisi) January 11, 2021

On a banner at the campus, there was a picture of Prof. Dr. Gülay Barbarosoğlu, the last elected university president of Boğaziçi. The sentence on the banner read, "May no one hear it, you are in my heart."

What happened?

Prof. Melih Bulu has been appointed as the President of Boğaziçi University in a Presidential Decree issued on January 1. The appointment of Bulu has sparked harsh criticisms among both the students and academics of the university as well as in the academic community.

Appointed to Boğaziçi, one of the most prestigious universities in Turkey, from outside its community, Bulu was a candidate for nomination to run in the Parliamentary elections in 2015 for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The students and several students' clubs of the university have been campaigning on social media under the hashtag #kayyımrektöristemiyoruz (We don't want a trustee university president).

The call of the students was also supported by the faculty members of the university, who released a joint statement on January 3.

"An academic outside Bogazici University community was appointed as rector (university president), which is a practice introduced for the first time after the 1980s military tutelage," read their statement.

Amid harsh criticisms of students and faculty members, Prof. Bulu has shared a message on his Twitter account, welcoming his appointment to the position, saying, "We are all in the same boat."

The students protested the appointment of Bulu in front of the South Campus of the university in İstanbul on January 4. However, the police intervened into the protest with pepper gas and plastic bullets.

Next day, it was reported that there were detention warrants against 28 people for "violating the law on meetings and demonstrations" and "resisting the officer on duty." Later in the day, 22 of them were detained.

40 people in total were detained over the protests. All of the detained were released on January 7 and 8, 2021.

About Melih Bulu

Prof. Melih Bulu was appointed as the President of Haliç University on January 17, 2020. In office in this foundation university for less than a year, he has been appointed as the President of Boğaziçi University.

He was a Dean and University President at the İstinye University from 2016 to 2019. Between the years of 2010 and 2016, he was the Head of the Business Management Department of İstanbul Şehir University's Business Management and Management Science Faculty.

He was the General Coordinator of International Competitiveness Research Institute (URAK), an NGO working on economic competitiveness of cities and countries, from the year 2017 to 2019. Since 2011, he has been the Executive Board member of the İstanbul Electric-Electronic Machinery and Informatics Exporters R&D Market.

In 2002, he founded the Sarıyer District Organization of the ruling AKP in İstanbul. In 2015, he was a candidate for nomination to run in the Parliamentary elections from the AKP in the first election district in İstanbul.

He studied Industrial Engineering at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara in 1992. He did his MBA and PhD at Boğaziçi University's Department of Management.

(DŞ/SD)