14 more people detained for protesting appointment of university president

* Photo: Youth Committees / Twitter

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The number of people detained for protesting the appointment of Prof. Melih Bulu as the president of Boğaziçi University has risen to 36.

While there were detention warrants against 28 people on charges of "violating the Law 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations" and "resisting the officer on duty," 17 of these 28 people were detained in house raids in several districts of İstanbul in the morning yesterday (January 5). It was later reported that five more people were detained yesterday.

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) today, 14 more people have been taken into custody over the protests at Boğaziçi.

While the detained are held in the İstanbul Security Directorate in Vatan Avenue, the related procedures are reportedly still ongoing.

14 people were detained in operations against six different addresses by the İstanbul Security Directorate, Security Branch Directorate teams and Special Operations police officers in early morning hours today. The are also reportedly facing the possible charges of "violating the Law 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations" and "resisting the officer on duty,"

In a written statement released by the Security Directorate of İstanbul, it was previously indicated that of the 28 people against whom a detention warrant was issued, four were Boğaziçi University students.

'State will show that it is the state'

Mehmet Ersoy, the Deputy Minister of Interior, has tweeted screenshots of old social media posts by one of the detained people and said, "You should have no doubt about this: The state will show that it is the state."

CLICK - 17 students detained for protesting new president of Boğaziçi

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.

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. (EKN/TP/SD)