Can Candan not let in Boğaziçi University, where he has been a lecturer for 14 years

* Photo: Dilek Şen - bianet

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Academic and documentary filmmaker Can Candan was dismissed from Boğaziçi University, where he had been a lecturer at the Department of Western Languages and Literatures, by appointed rector Naci İnci while he was still the appointed acting rector of the university.

Going to the South Campus of the university for his open class today (October 11), Can Candan was not let in the school.

Candan has shared the incident in a video on Twitter, briefly saying, "I was going to have the first meeting of my documentary filmmaking course with my students at the South Campus as an open class today. We, my spouse from the Department of Sociology and I, came here together in our vehicle. When they saw me, 'Professor, we cannot let you in.' When I asked the reason why, they said, 'There is an instruction from the Rectorate.' I now cannot have my open class which I was planning to have."

The academics who came to the university gate in support of Can Candan have been waiting for five hours as of 4 pm today. The academics have not been allowed to make a press statement by the police on the grounds that the Sub-Governor's Offices of Beşiktaş and Sarıyer, at the intersection of which stands Boğaziçi University, have issued demonstration bans.

Coming to the campus gate in support, academic Tolga Sütlü from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics has said, "He cannot enter the campus, which any citizen can enter, even as the visitor of his spouse, which shows how great desperation the trustee-rectorate is."

After the appointed administration dismissed Candan despite the decisions of the faculty and department, he announced on Twitter that he would be giving his classes FA 498 Documentary Cinema and FA350 Film Project, which he had been offering every fall semester for 14 years.

The first class of this semester was scheduled for today at 10 am - 2 pm at the South Campus and would be broadcast online.

Court has dismissed his application

After his dismissal from Boğaziçi University, Can Candan said that this decision was, above all else, an attack on students' right to education and filed a lawsuit against the Rectorate of Boğaziçi University on August 13 and demanded the stay of the execution and termination of his dismissal. The İstanbul 2nd Administrative Court has dismissed this application by concluding that the related action "was in conformity with the law."

What happened?

Appointed rector Naci İnci, who had been first appointed as the acting rector of Boğaziçi University, dismissed academic Can Candan by launching a disciplinary investigation against the academic.

After Melih Bulu, the appointed rector of Boğaziçi University, had been dismissed by a Presidential decree on July 15 amid wide-scale protests, Naci İnci, who was the vice rector of Bulu, was appointed as the acting rector by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK).

Shortly after his appointment as an acting rector, Naci İnci sent Can Candan a letter, informing him about his dismissal.

Can Candan, a documentary filmmaker, academic and faculty advisor of the BULGBTI+ Student's Club, which was closed by the appointed rector, had been filming and documenting the protests of Boğaziçi University faculty against the appointment of Melih Bulu for over six months.

In support of academic and documentary filmmaker Can Candan, who was dismissed from Boğaziçi University by Naci İnci, the appointed acting rector of the university, filmmakers and academics from across the world have launched an international campaign for Candan.

In an open letter addressed to Boğaziçi University Rectorate, Boğaziçi University Senate and the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), 319 academics and documentary filmmakers from different countries of the world such as the US, Canada, Mexico, Britain, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland and Sweden have expressed their support for Can Candan. (DŞ/NÖ/SD)