Ceremony Held for Academic Murdered by Student

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Ceren Damar Şenel (27), a research assistant at the Çankaya University Faculty of Law in Ankara was murdered by one of her students yesterday (January 2). A ceremony was held in the school today for the late academic.

Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim-Sen) released a statement regarding the murder, saying, "Law of the strong and male violence have been what a final year male law student understands from the law."

According to the claims, H.İ.H. (23) a final year student at the Faculty of Law, was caught cheating in exam by research assistant Damar last week. A minute was written and the student's exam was canceled.

After the incident, H.İ.H went to his professor's room at school. The student first stabbed, then shot Damar twice. Being seriously wounded, the academic lost her life while she was being taken to hospital. It was claimed that the weapon H.İ.H. used belongs to his father, a special operations police officer.

Çankaya University stated that education has been temporarily suspended and the exams have been postponed.

Presidential Spokesperson: The incident is being investigated

Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said in a statement on Twitter that his neighbor's daughter Damar lost her life in a "heinous attack". Kalın said that the case is being investigated.

In the wake of the murder, students from the Faculty of Law launched a Twitter account with the username @avcerendamar.

In the tweets posted by the account, it was claimed that the family members of H.İ.H are retired police officers and he would always come to school with objects like knives but no measures were taken.

The account claimed that H.İ.H stabbed Damar 10 times and shot twice. Around 11.30 a.m. yesterday, he was seen running with a gun in his hand in the school and fired his gun into the air to deter those chasing him.

Family attended the ceremony

Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into a social media post on the charge of "praising crime and criminals", which said, "I hope this model behavior will reflect on our exams."

A ceremony was held today for Ceren Damar today at the faculty. Damar's parents and husband, students of the faculty and academics attended the ceremony.

Eğitim-Sen: Violence of the strong is being encouraged

Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim-Sen) released a statement denouncing the murder.

It said, "Law of the strong and male violence have been what a final year male law student understands from the law. Besides, the commercial nature of the foundation universities reduce the relation between the academic and the student to a employee-customer relation and the power of the money dominates all the rights, freedoms and the logic of the university.

"Disregard for academic freedom, threats directed at universities, science and academics, support of individual armament and impunity encourage the violence of the strong."

On April 5, 2018, a PhD student carried out an armed attack and killed three academics, one administrative personnel at the Osmangazi University in Eskişehir province. (AÖ/VK)