‘We will take Berke and Perit’: Boğaziçi students protest in front of Silivri Prison

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Protesting the appointed rectors since January 4, 2021, the students of Boğaziçi University announced that they would make a press statement in front of the Silivri Prison at the outskirts of İstanbul yesterday (January 2) and would reiterate their request for the release of their arrested friends Enis Berke Gök and Caner Perit Özen ahead of their hearing this week.

The students were intercepted by the gendarmerie while they were on their way to the prison. Prevented by the gendarmerie, they made a statement on social media and briefly stated the following:

"We have been intercepted at the gendarmerie checkpoint at the entrance to Silivri. They are trying to prevent us from entering the area. We are waiting for our lawyers. We are calling out to the ones who think that they can separate us from our friends like this: We are attached to one another with struggle and hope. We don't have the intention to give up! We read out our poems while waiting. They tried to hinder our poems by saying that reading a poem was an organizational activity.

They prevented the press laborers from taking a video. They are trying to prevent press laborers by saying that they are not considered to be the press as they do not have the cards given by the presidency. They do not accept international press cards. You cannot silence us because we are not the press of the palace.

In a statement released later on, the Campaign of Freedom for Berke, for Perit, for University group announced that they arrived in front of the Silivri Prison despite the prevention of the law enforcement.

Making a statement in front of the prison, the students briefly said, "We are behind our words because we, students, are coming and we will free these people as well as the positions that they occupy. We will build our own future away from this rotten mentality. Our case is at [İstanbul Courthouse in] Çağlayan on January 7. We will take our friends."

Silivri'de 89 gündür tutsak olan Berke ve Perit için basın açıklaması gerçekleştirdik. Direnişimizin ve dayanışmamızın sıcaklığı ile dostlarımızı almaya gün sayıyoruz.

7 Ocak'ta alacağız dostlar sizi!#BerkeyiPeritiAlacağız https://t.co/CogG5AAUw5

— Berke’ye Perit'e Üniversiteye Özgürlük Kampanyası (@berkeperitozgur) January 2, 2022

What happened?

10 students were taken into custody at Boğaziçi University in İstanbul on October 5, 2021 on the grounds that they had joined the ongoing protests against Naci İnci, the appointed rector of the university.

Three students were released from detention after giving their statements at the police station. Held in detention at night, seven students were referred to the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan a day later after the related formalities had been completed at the police station.

Interrogated at the prosecutor's office, four students were released on probation while three were referred to judgeship to be arrested.

The İstanbul Penal Judgeship of Peace on Duty ruled that two students should be arrested and one should be released on probation.

Rector İnci had applied to the prosecutor's office against his 14 students on charges of "threat, insult, damage to property, resisting for preventing duty and violating the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations." (RT/SD)