When you first step onto the campus of Dicle University, everything seems to have returned to normal after the traumatic events of last week’s fighting. A second glance will reveal the police vehicles parked at every corner; heavy duty trucks, and buses full of armed personnel stationed outside every faculty.
“There are still security issues at the university,” said one of the police officers stationed outside the Faculty of Education. “Of course we hope nothing new will happen, but we cannot be sure. We are staying to protect the students.”
Police were also involved in last week’s fights, attempting to break up the two groups using pepper spray and force. Despite their efforts, seven people were injured. Since then, police troops have been stationed around the university, carrying handguns and rifles as preventative measure
"Some don't want peace"
This is a concern shared by the district mayor of Sûr, Abdullah Demirbaş. “This conflict was encouraged by the government,” he claimed. “They wanted to provoke the PKK, and they did.”
Though Dermirbaş and other members of the BDP seem concerned about the government’s involvement with last week’s conflict, Diyarbakir’s Vice Governor, Mustafa Can, has promptly denied the speculations.
“We had nothing to do with the uprising at the university,” he said. “Of course we didn’t. We are currently involved in peace negotiations – we aren’t interested in starting any fights. There are simply different ideologies between these two groups and they cannot agree. Unfortunately this ended up in fights, but the government did not have anything to do with it.”
Cameras provide vital evidence
“We will give the appropriate information to the media soon, but the first and most important step is to prevent any more outbursts. We do not want to provoke anymore fights but want this conflict to be solved. But the responsible people will be punished in a few days”, said Mustafa Can.
No one knows how long police will consider there to be a security issue at Dicle University, but for now they remain on campus in order to protect students in the event of another escalation in the conflict. If you ask Riovan, a Biology senior, their presence can only cause more problems. “The conflict may be over, but the police is still here. As long as the police is still here, we cannot have peace.” (ALB/CDV/BM)
