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Date published: 1 February 2021 17:10

~ Modified On: 1 February 2021 20:20

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Boğaziçi University protests: Several students detained

The protests of students against the “trustee rector” appointed to Boğaziçi University continue in front of the South Campus today. HDP's Kemalbay has indicated that several students have been detained at the gate of the nearby North Campus.

Dilek Şen

Boğaziçi University protests: Several students detained

* Photo: Dilek Şen - bianet

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

While students and academics of Boğaziçi University have been protesting the appointment of Melih Bulu as a rector to their university for a month now, today's protest takes place in front of the South Campus in İstanbul, especially for the two students who have been arrested over a picture on display at their campus. However, the police do not allow the protests.

Preventing the students from coming together, the police have set up a barricade in front of the main entrance of the South Campus. They have also stepped up security measures around Rumelihisarüstü, where the campuses of the university are located. Police have closed all streets in the vicinity. Several people have been reportedly detained in Etiler.

Two students detained in front of South Campus

Police also do not allow the students to leave the South Campus. The ones trying to come to the campus from Etiler are also prevented.

Two students have been taken into custody by the police in front of the South Campus after they chanted slogans.

On the other side, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Serpil Kemalbay has also come in front of the university to support the protests. She has indicated that several students have been detained at the gate of the nearby North Campus of the university.

HDP MP Serpil Kemalbay: As you know, the students of Boğaziçi University do not want the appointment of a trustee rector. And they have been staging a democratic and peaceful resistance here. However, their democratic and peaceful acts have been criminalized and two university students have been arrested while two have been placed under house arrest. Now, the students of Boğaziçi University want to hold a press statement to protest these arrests. But, as you see, here is a massive blockade and an extraordinary mass of police. The university has been almost surrounded by iron barricades. There are sharpshooters. We are faced with the epitome of a police state here. While students are not allowed to leave their campus, it is said that the ones on their way here were intervened and detained. We are here to show that we stand with the students. We are here to reiterate that the students want a free, democratic and autonomous university and it is their democratic right to do so; we are here to solidarize with the university students. We want this blockade to be removed and the arrested students to be released.

Other HDP MPs Züleyha Gülüm, Hüda Kaya, Dilşad Canbaz Kaya and Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu are also there to support the protest. While they were trying to prevent the police from detaining the students, a commotion has ensued between the police and the MPs.

Students waiting amid warnings of intervention

The Governor's Office of İstanbul also released a statement about the students' call for protest this morning (February 1). Referring to the ban on meetings, demonstrations and marches imposed by the office for a month "due to pandemic" as of January 5, the Governor's Office of İsanbul expressed its expectation that "all citizens show sensitivity to the ban."

As the students gathered in front of the main gate of the South Campus, which was handcuffed by the security forces during the first protest in early January, the police said that "the demonstration attempted to be held by the students had been banned by the sub-governor's office."

They also said that "if the students failed to comply with the ban and did not disperse, the security forces would intervene."

As for the students, they demanded the release of their arrested friends. As of 5.15 p.m. today, students were still waiting in front of the campus.

On the other side, the students of Boğaziçi University confined to the campus gathered in front of the Rector's Office at the South Campus as they were not allowed to leave the campus and the university was blockaded by the police. The students chanted the slogan, "Resign, resign." They also demanded a meeting with Melih Bulu, the appointed rector. However, the security guards of the university attacked the students.

Etiler'de buluştuğumuz anda polis saldırdı!
Yıldız Dayanışması, Koç Dayanışması ve diğer dayanışmalardan 20'ye yakın arkadaşımız gözaltına alındı!
Baskılar, gözaltılar direnişimizi durduramayacak! Biz buradayız!
Tüm dayanışmaları #ArkadaşlarımızıSerbestBırakın demeye çağrıyoruz! https://t.co/FEoqxsbsuK
— Koç Dayanışması (@kudayanisma) February 1, 2021

The solidarity platform of Koç University has also announced that around 20 of their friends from the solidarity platforms of Koç University, Yıldız Technical University and other universities have been detained. "The police attacked when we met in Etiler," says the Koç Solidarity.

Detentions in İzmir as well

More then 20 students of 9 Eylül University in İzmir have also been detained while they attempted to support the Boğaziçi University protests with a protest march in Alsancak. According to the statement of the İzmir Student Solidarity platform, "an attack was carried out against the Pride March to be held in response to the attacks on Boğaziçi."

"Several of our friends who have come to the site of protest are being detained with torture," the statement of the solidarity has read.

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.

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)

Dilek Şen

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İstanbul Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Gazetecilik Bölümü 2014 mezunu. Mesleğe 2013’te başladı. T24'te stajyerlik, Cumhuriyet'te editörlük, Medyascope'ta muhabirlik yaptı. Uluslararası Gazeteciler Programı’nın (IJP) Johannes Rau Burs Programı'nı 2017'de Berlin'deki taz gazetesinde, State Scholarships Foundation’ın (IKY) Yunan Dili ve Kültürü programını ise 2019'da Yanya Üniversitesi'nde tamamladı.