Demonstrations, marches banned in İstanbul’s Beşiktaş, Sarıyer

"You will escape Melih Bulu, not us" (by Youth Committees / Twitter)

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Amid calls to protest the appointment of university presidents, the İstanbul Governor's Office has announced that holding demonstrations and marches has been banned in Beşiktaş and Sarıyer districts, where the campuses of Boğaziçi University are located in İstanbul.

After Prof. Melih Bulu was appointed as a president to Boğaziçi by the decree of President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and over 20 people were detained for protesting this appointment in front of the South Campus, students made a call and said: "We will not stay silent, we will not accept and we will not give up. Release the detained immediately, let our friends be free."

The students have also called on people to gather in front of the South Campus at 2 p.m. today (January 6) for protests.

Releasing a statement on his Twitter account within this context, İstanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya has said, "Considering that the gathering planned to be held might have a negative impact on the efforts to protect society from the outbreak and to curb the spread of the outbreak, all types of meetings, demonstrations and marches have been banned."

'Our security forces are on their duty'

İstanbul Governor Yerlikaya has briefly said: "Some civil society organizations and groups have been making calls in the press and on social media to gather in front of the Boğaziçi University campus today.

"Considering the decisions taken by the Public Health Boards of our Beşiktaş and Sarıyer districts and that the gathering planned to be held might have a negative impact on the efforts to protect society from the outbreak and to curb the spread of the outbreak, all types of meetings, demonstrations and marches have been banned in these districts of ours.

"The Republic of Turkey is a state of law; everyone is equal before the law. Our expectation from all our citizens is that they abstain from any attitude or behavior that would constitute a crime and act in commonsense. Our security forces are always on their duty for our peace and security."

What happened?

Appointed by President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the new president of Boğaziçi University on January 1, Prof. Melih Bulu, an academic outside Boğaziçi's community, was also a candidate for nomination to run in the Parliamentary elections for Erdoğan's AKP in 2015. This appointment has caused an outrage among both the students and academics. Students staged a protest in front of the South Campus on January 4. However, the police tried to prevent the students by "handcuffing" the gates of the campus.

CLICK - Police attack students with pepper gas at Boğaziçi

A day later, on January 5, it was reported detention warrants were issued against 28 people over this protest. While 17 people were detained in house raids early in the morning yesterday, it was then reported that five more people were also taken into custody later.

CLICK - 5 more people detained for protesting university president

Vice Minister of Interior İsmail Çataklı alleged on January 5 that 15 of the detained "were not students." He also said that the slogans chanted against the police during the protests "had crossed the line."

While several faculty members protested the appointment of Prof. Bulu by turning their backs to the University President's Office at the South Campus during the change of office ceremony, students also protested, chanting the slogans, "We don't want a trustee university president." (TP/SD)