Boğaziçi Solidarity to Soylu: You will step back, not us

* Photo by Can Candan

Click to read the article in Turkish

Speaking during a program on pro-government A Haber news channel the other day, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu made targeting remarks about the students who joined the protests against the appointed rector of Boğaziçi University and their families as well as arrested businessperson Osman Kavala, Boğaziçi academic and Kavala's spouse Ayşe Buğra and former Boğaziçi University rector Prof. Üstün Ergüder.

According to what Soylu said on TV, he called Ergüder and told him "to not get involved in this." Soylu then moved on to say:

"Üstün Ergüder is at the center of all these, he is involved in it. He writes articles to stir the pot, he provokes. He says, 'We taught the children the right thing, right?' Let him deny it, let him! Shame on him!

"It is the bottom line of immorality that an 80-year-old person raised with the bread of this country stirs up Boğaziçi University by faculty members. We do not and will not give credit to this."

Üstün Ergüder, a former rector of Boğaziçi University, also gave an interview to bianet Turkish amid Boğaziçi protests, underlining that "an institution cannot be called a university without academic freedom."

'First elected rector after the 1980 coup'

In the wake of these statements, the faculty members of Boğaziçi University Department of Politics and International Relations have released a statement on Twitter. Reminding the public that Prof. Üstün Ergüder was one of the founders of their department, the academics have underlined that Ergüder was also the first elected rector in the post-coup period in 1980.

The academics have stressed that Ergüder "is a highly valued scientist who has made trailblazing and significant contributions to the development of Political Science as an academic discipline in Turkey and has proved his democratic and liberal approach and attitude at every opportunity."

pic.twitter.com/3Y3pYB94KW

— Bogazici Political Science and IR (@BogaziciPOLS) February 21, 2021

'Politics of hate and threat'

Among the ones targeted by Soylu in his speech on TV were the families of the students who joined the Boğaziçi University protests.

According to Soylu's statement on A Haber, they called the families of the students who joined the protests and "asked them for help."

"While some families said, 'You are right, thank you. We will do our share', some ideological families said, 'Don't get involved in this," said Soylu.

Protesting the appointment of Prof. Melih Bulu as a rector to their university by a Presidential Decree in early January 2021, the Boğaziçi Solidarity platform has released a written statement on its social media account in response to these remarks. Sharing background information as to the statement of Minister Soylu, the platform has briefly said:

"Labeling every struggle for rights, every rightful struggle as 'terrorism' without any grounds, you are still doing politics of hate and threat, which the people are sick and tired of. You know it, but let us repeat:

"We have not taken a step back and we will not do so! We have not looked down and we will not do so! We will keep on struggling until we obtain our rightful demands. We will not compromise, you will step back!"

The platform has also underlined that Süleyman Soylu portrayed the "threatening remarks" against the families as acts of "informing" them, slamming the Minister for "targeting the families supporting the rightful demands and struggle of students as 'ideological' families."

Ailelerimizi hedef gösteren İçişleri Bakanı'na cevabımızdır:#BoğaziçiTeslimOlmayacak pic.twitter.com/ON63wlI9Wu

— Boğaziçi Dayanışması #9 (@boundayanisma) February 21, 2021

(DŞ/SD)