Erdoğan says students protesting housing prices are 'terrorists like those in Gezi Park'

Photo: AA

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has once again targeted university students protesting against high housing prices.

"We are following with sadness that some people are not appreciating what has been done in higher education, like all other matters," he said today (October 5) during a ceremony at the Presidential Complex marking the start of the academic year.

"I can't accept a Turkey where students climb on top of the rector's car and stomping there. We don't need such students," he remarked, apparently referring to the Boğaziçi University protests, which have been going on since the start of the year.

"Your rector is inside the car. You block its way and then you climb on the car and stomp there. There can be no such students. At most, there are terrorists who infiltrated universities."

"Hotel-standard dorms"

The president further said Turkey's dormitory capacity is over that of developed countries.

"We have increased the number of our dormitories from 190 to 794. We have improved the physical conditions of our dormitories.

"While our students would stay in wards of 30-40 people in the past, they now have hotel-standard rooms for three-four people.

"We are a government that respects students the most. When we assumed power, the scholarship was only 45 lira. We have increased it to 650 lira now."

The capacity of dormitories in the country is over a million, Erdoğan noted.

About the housing protests that have been going on since mid-September, he remarked, "What's that for God's sake? Those who lie on banks in parks... Are they students? They are terrorists just like those in Gezi Park."

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Student housing protests

As universities' return to in-person classes after one and a half years of distance learning coincided with an excessive increase in rent prices across the country, especially in greater cities, students have faced a housing crisis when they returned to their schools.

On September 18, a group of university students who call themselves the "Movement of the Unsheltered" spent the night at a park in İstanbul's Kadıköy district, protesting the high housing prices.

The protests spread to many provinces, with students keeping vigils and holding marches at nights. Police have detained dozens of students in various parts of the country.

According to a study by Bahçeşehir University, rents in İstanbul, the largest city of Turkey, increased by over 50 percent in August compared to the same month last year. The rate of increase in Ankara, the capital, and İzmir, the third largest city of the country, was above 30 percent.

The insufficient capacity and high fees of dormitories are also on the target of the student protests.

There are about eight million university students in Turkey, a country of 83 million people, with millions of students studying in a different city than their hometown.

(AS/VK)