Detentions Mar Anti-YOK Protests
The November 6-7 protests marked the 25th anniversary of YOK which is regarded as a remnant of the post 1980 military coup era with control over the country's higher education policy and appointments.
Demonstrations in Istanbul, Ankara, Adana, Bursa, Izmir, Kutahya, Eskisehir and Kocaeli led to intervention while in the Black Sea port city of Trabzon, street fighting between protesters and gendarme troops, some of them shielded with special body armor, resulted with 18 placed under custody.
Ankara...
In capital Ankara, students gathering at Kurtulus square staged a silent march to Mithatpasa Bridge where they were stopped at a police barricade. A large number of students were placed under custody after a scuffle with the police and an attempt to cross through. No immediate figures were available as to how many were placed under custody and how many were wounded.
Trabzon...
Approximately 20 students of the Black Sea Technical University gathered at around noon in front of the Machine Engineering building of the complex where they shouted slogans "No to YOK" and "We want free education". Despite all attempts a 60-strong gendarme team, some of them dressed in full body armor, failed to dispel the group. When the gendarme physically intervened, a clash erupted and witnesses saw students clubbed and dragged into vehicles. Some 18 were placed under custody and driven into the gendarme station inside the university complex.
Istanbul Kadikoy...
A number of democratic mass organizations, political party and union representative alongside university students met at the Kadikoy square on November 6 where they marched, in a group of about a thousand, to the Iskele square. Boasting a wide placard in front of them, the demonstrator's demands were clear: "We want equal, scientific, democratic education in the mother tongue against YOK, education at a fee and against investigations". Accompanying the demand was another placard: "We want freedom, brotherhood and a future against imperialist occupation and operations". Following the meeting police detained 6 of the protestors on grounds of shouting "illegal slogans".
Istanbul Beyazit...
In a separate meeting on the European side of the city, a 200-strong group of students gathered in front of the Istanbul University Beyazit campus where, despite heavy security measures, they staged another protest. "We are rebelling against imperialist occupation and education at a fee" said one leading placard as the group marched to the education faculty.
The meeting in Beyazit followed a similar demonstration at the Faculty of Literature on the same grounds where, led by the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) and members of the Anarchist Block, students marched to the University central building wearing "zombie masks" as well as primary school aprons before stripping them off and setting fire to a set of diplomas.
Izmir and Eskisehir...
In the western port city of Izmir, YOK was protested by a 100-strong student group who gathered at the Faculty of Literature of the Aegean University and claiming that the Higher Education Board was in an attempt to silence opposition students through investigations, vouched to raise their voice until the structure was abolished. The group dispersed without an incident as heavy security measures were taken outside.
In the central Turkish city of Eskisehir, the YOK protest was limited to a group of 20 students from the Anatolian University Students Collectives Group who marched to the rectory building where they read a press statement.
Kocaeli...
Kocaeli witnessed two demonstrations where students protested YOK initially during an organized march in the town center that was surrounded by heavy security.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Mert Temiz said "Today exactly 25 years ago those who staged the 12 September coup entered the universities with their bloody boots. The mark of the pressure that was left on the university was YOK. For 25 years this has been a shadow over universities. And for 25 years the universities are breaking away from the people, step by step, being marketed... YOK came to universities wearing military boots, we will get rid of it with a rebellion".
The second demonstration in Kocaeli was held in the evening hours where a group consisting of the Democratic Youth Movement and KOU attempted to stage a march to the Anitpark. Police blocked the way to the park where students stopped, read a press statement and dispersed.
Other protests were also held in Adana, Kutahya and Bursa where students demanded an end to YOK and scientific, democratic, autonomic education without fees. (EZO/TK/II/YE)