* Photo: Dilek Şen / bianet
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After Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed Prof. Melih Bulu, an academic outside its community, as the new president of Boğaziçi University, the students and faculty members of the university have been protesting the appointment.
While the academics turn their backs to the rector's office everyday, students' protest has turned into a watch at the South Campus.
Boğaziçi Solidarity platform has been demanding the resignation of Melih Bulu. However, he has not yet responded to this demand.
Within this context, the solidarity has once again called on Kurdish people, laborers, women and LGBTI+s to hold a protest, saying, "The constituents of the university whose will has been trampled upon by trustees keep resisting thanks to solidarity and they will keep on until trustees leave."
Chanting the slogan "There is no salvation on our own; either all of us or none of us", the solidarity has announced that the protest will be held at Kadıköy Rıhtım in İstanbul at 5 p.m. on January 21.
21 Ocak Perşembe günü 17:00'e Kadıköy Rıhtım'a çağrımızdır! pic.twitter.com/ueUmypW5lT
— Boğaziçi Dayanışması (@boundayanisma) January 19, 2021
Istanbul University students also protesting
İstanbul University Democratic University Initiative (İÜDÜG) will also hold a press statement in front of the main entrance of the İÜ and express their demands for democratic, autonomous and free university. Ahead of the press statement to be held at 12.30 p.m. on January 21, the İÜDÜG has released a statement titled "No to trustees, yes to university's will."
Noting that "academic freedom is a part of freedom of expression", the initiative has referred to the "climate of fear and the purges from universities during the State of Emergency" and said, "The government has dealt serious blows to the academic production of universities."
"Academic autonomy is the guarantee of academic freedom. A mindset that disregards university autonomy has no universal adequacy. Protecting and safeguarding the inner dynamics and constituents of the university is one of the most important conditions of academic production.
"That is why we have been expressing it over and over again without getting tired: We will create the democratic, autonomous and free university with all constituents. We are behind the struggle for a democratic university just as we are behind our promise," the initiative has said.
Accordingly, theİÜDÜG has announced that it will hold a statement in front of the Main Gate of İstanbul University at 12.30 p.m. on January 21:
"We don't hush, we don't fear, we don't give up, we don't leave. Long live democracy, long live democratic, autonomous and free university."
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 BuluProf. 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/EKN/SD)
