Appointed rector dismisses one more academic from Boğaziçi University

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Teaching at the Department of Computer Engineering of Boğaziçi University for five years, Dr. Kaan Öztürk has been dismissed by the decision of Prof. Naci İnci, who has been appointed as the rector by the Presidential decision of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in July 2021.

Öztürk has announced the news on his Twitter account, saying, "The turn to be laid off from Boğaziçi has apparently come to me."

In his message, Kaan Öztürk has briefly said, "I am ashamed of saying 'laid off', because not being liked by Naci İnci is a medal of honor. Imagine: What if he said, 'Kaan is exactly how I want, don't touch him ever'? I would not face people in public out of shame."

According to the academic, the Department of Computer Engineering gave the name of Kaan Öztürk to the faculty and informed them that next semester, he would once again teach the mass course that he had been teaching at the department for five years. However, the appointed rector did not put his name in the 'list of part-time faculty approved to teach.'

"The department asked for an explanation, but no answer has been given," Kaan Öztürk has indicated further.

The academic has raised concerns that such decisions of dismissal "given by the appointed tyrants by disregarding departments' will decrease the quality of the school." Referring to the protests that have been ongoing against the appointed rectors since January 2021, he has said, "The university has been struggling against this decreasing quality for a year. Till now, I supported them with both my applause and by shouldering a little bit of their burden. Only my applause has remained; so be it."

Dismissals by the appointed rectorate

In July 2021, Prof. Naci İnci, the then acting rector of Boğaziçi University, dismissed academic and documentary filmmaker Can Candan, who had been teaching at the university since 2007.

In September 2021, the university administration also did not approve the "Grammar Of Film Language: Film Editing" course offered by award-winning film editor Özcan Vardar, a part-time lecturer since 2013, as part of the Western Languages and Literatures' Film Studies Certificate Program. Informing the Dean's Office of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in writing, appointed Vice Rector Fazıl Önder Sönmez cited Vardar's "lack of formal education in the field he taught classes" as the reason for the decision.

The same reason was also cited in terminating the classes of Feyzi Erçin and Seda Binbaşgil at the same department.

The course of Dr. Serkan Köybaşı, a part-time faculty member teaching constitutional law, was also closed. Mohan Ravichandran, a full-time faculty member of the Department of Mathematics, was dismissed in mid-semester without any justification. (RT/SD)