Boğaziçi rector appointment shows 'trustee policies not limited to HDP municipalities'

Photo: Dilek Şen / bianet

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The controversial appointment of a pro-government head of Boğaziçi University has similar characteristics to mayor replacements in the country's Kurdish-majority cities, according to Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Mithat Sancar.

The issue of "trustees" had long been limited to HDP municipalities but the appointment of the university's new president showed this to the whole country, Sancar told his party's provincial chairs at an online meeting.

Melih Bulu, an academic outside the community of Boğaziçi University, was appointed as the new head of the school on January 1, causing outrage among the students and academics, who have dismissed him as a "trustee president."

The government has replaced dozens of HDP mayors with "trustees" since the 2019 local elections.

"Our efforts for this issue to be addressed in a broader framework were not adequately responded. But recently, we have seen what we said at that time becoming the reality step by step," said Sancar.

Also referring to a recently enacted law allowing the government to replace NGO executives with trustees, Sancar said the "trustee policies" were becoming a "new regime" and the "dominant way of ruling the country."

"What happened lately at Boğaziçi University showed entire Turkey what the reality of trustees means. The policy of trustees has come to dominate the universities," he said and added that this was the "main point about the new regime."

"This government won't stop uttering the word, 'coup'. It defames every objection, all kinds of social reaction as a 'coup'. But all of its practices are the continuation of a pro-coup mentality.

"What wasn't done in the September 12 [the 1980 coup] period is being done in the period of this government. A handcuff was put on the gates of the university. It was not a simple blunder ... it was the expression of a mindset."

Selahattin Demirtaş, an imprisoned former co-leader of the HDP, announced support for the students.

"What have you done, young people. Your voice shakes these places. Who knows, where else it shakes," said a message on his Twitter account.

Boğaziçi students have been protesting the appointment for a week and met with violent police response several times with some of the protesters' homes being raided by the anti-terror police.

The Ministry of Interior claimed that most of the detained protesters were linked to outlawed organizations, including the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and the Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP).

Under the new presidential system adopted after a controversial referendum in April 2017, the president is allowed to appoint anyone as the head of a university. Previously, universities would hold elections and the president would appoint one of the three candidates with the highest number of votes. (EKN/VK)