Boğaziçi, METU academics protest Bulu

Academics from both universities have demanded the release of the detained protesters and the resignation of Prof. Bulu as the Boğaziçi University rector.

İstanbul

Photo: METU Must Be Defended platform / Twitter

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Boğaziçi University's academics have continued protesting the new rector by turning their back to his office, which they have been doing since early January.

In today's demonstration, more than 200 academics held placards reading "Resign, Melih Bulu" and then left them in front of the building.

In a move that broke the tradition of the university, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on January 2 picked an outside academic, Prof. Bulu, who is also a member of his party, to head the university. Academics and students from Boğaziçi, as well as other parts of the country, have protested the appointment since then.

Also releasing a statement, they refuted Rector Bulu's remarks in an interview.

"The appointed rector made false claims in an interview published on February 2. He has claimed that a group of 20 academics was blocking the support for him and that he was backed by many academics whom he met.

"However, we, as hundreds of professors, have been protesting the unfair rector appointment on the Southern Square for five weeks. Moreover, almost all of our professors who met the rector conveyed to him that the way of his appointment was wrong and said to his face that it would be right for him to resign."

Students also gathered in front of the rector's office, demanding the release of the detained people.

"Melih Bulu, resign!"

"It's not just Boğaziçi's problem"

Academics from the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ/METU) in the capital city of Ankara held a demonstration today in support of the Boğaziçi protests.

They also demanded the release of students, holding placards reading "Don't touch my student."

Reading out a statement, they said, "We agree with the righteous objections of all the constituents of Boğaziçi University who defend the traditions of the university and their academic principles."

"We are proud of university students who defend these traditions and principles. However, these students, who want to exercise their freedom of expression and protest, which are under the constitutional guarantee in accordance with the universal principles of law, are subjected to police violence.

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"The oppression and violence against them should and everyone who has been detained and arrested during this period should be released immediately.

"As METU academics, we think that universities should be institutions that are academically, administratively and financially autonomous and that answer to the public as a result of this autonomy.

"... The problem we are experiencing is not just the problem of Boğaiçi University but the problem of all the universities of Turkey and in terms of its negative consequences, it is the problem of Turkey.

"As METU academics, we announce to the public that we are watching with concern the developments at Boğaziçi University that damage the principle of autonomous-democratic universities, that defending this principle is a social responsibility and that we will follow this process because of that."

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.

The protests of students and faculty members at the South Campus of Boğaziçi University have been going on since January 4.

On February 1, police stormed the South Campus and intervened into the students' protests. Earlier in the day, the students gathered in front of the campus for the protest. Police hindered the protest while also preventing the students inside the South Campus from joining their friends outside.

With the 51 students taken into custody inside the campus in the evening, the number of detained increased to 159. In a statement released by the İstanbul Governor's Office in the early morning hours on February 2, it was announced that 98 students were released from detention.

On February 2, Boğaziçi University students gathered in Kadıköy Rıhtım for another protest, which was attacked by the police with plastic bullets and tear gas. 134 people were taken into custody by the police.

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/VK)