Twitter flags two more tweets by Minister Soylu about Boğaziçi protesters, LGBTI+s

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Twitter has restricted two posts by Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu about the protests against the appointment of a rector to Boğaziçi University.

In one of the tweets, Soylu wrote, "Twitter, which forms a protective shield for terrorist organizations and the deviant LGBT, as we witness, is trying to disrupt the chemistry of countries, democracy and peace with the communications monopoly it has."

Twitter has restricted the post for violating its rules about hateful conduct. It also hid a tweet by Soylu for the same reason on Tuesday.

Senior government officials' discriminatory statements against LGBTI+s during the protests have been criticized by rights defenders as well as UN and EU officials.

In the second tweet, Soylu shared the screenshot of a post by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli, which was removed by Twitter.

CLICK - Twitter blocks MHP leader's tweet against Boğaziçi protesters

Referring to the protesters, Bahçeli wrote, "Those who rely on spies, oppressors and dark circles are not children but venomous snakes whose heads need to be crushed. Those who join the queue to extend the illegal protests to other universities should pay for it tragically."

Soylu's tweet was flagged as against the Twitter rules about abusive behavior. Users can only see restricted tweets by clicking "view" and are only able to quote them while replies and likes are not allowed. The minister has accused Twitter of "censorship."

The company is also at odds with Turkey over its new social media law that requires global platforms to assign a legal representative and store user data in the country. Unlike other major social media platforms, Twitter has refused to meet the requests and is currently banned from receiving ads in Turkey.

According to the law, the next steps will be bandwith restrictions of 50 to 90 percent.

Academics and students of Boğaziçi University, one of the top higher education institutions in Turkey, have been protesting the appointment of a rector from outside the university's academic community and demanding an elected rector since early January.

Hundreds of protesters have been detained so far as the government accuses them of being linked to "terrorist groups."

What happened?

Prof. Melih Bulu has been appointed as the President of Boğaziçi University in a Presidential Decree issued on January 1. The appointment of Bulu has sparked harsh criticisms among both the students and academics of the university as well as in the academic community.

Appointed to Boğaziçi, one of the most prestigious universities in Turkey, from outside its community, Bulu was a candidate for nomination to run in the Parliamentary elections in 2015 for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The students and several students' clubs of the university have been campaigning on social media under the hashtag #kayyımrektöristemiyoruz (We don't want a trustee university president).

The call of the students was also supported by the faculty members of the university, who released a joint statement on January 3.

"An academic outside Bogazici University community was appointed as rector (university president), which is a practice introduced for the first time after the 1980s military tutelage," read their statement.

Amid harsh criticisms of students and faculty members, Prof. Bulu has shared a message on his Twitter account, welcoming his appointment to the position, saying, "We are all in the same boat."

The students protested the appointment of Bulu in front of the South Campus of the university in İstanbul on January 4. However, the police intervened into the protest with pepper gas and plastic bullets.

Next day, it was reported that there were detention warrants against 28 people for "violating the law on meetings and demonstrations" and "resisting the officer on duty." Later in the day, 22 of them were detained.

40 people in total were detained over the protests. All of the detained were released on January 7 and 8, 2021.

The protests of students and faculty members at the South Campus of Boğaziçi University have been going on since January 4.

On February 1, police stormed the South Campus and intervened into the students' protests. Earlier in the day, the students gathered in front of the campus for the protest. Police hindered the protest while also preventing the students inside the South Campus from joining their friends outside.

With the 51 students taken into custody inside the campus in the evening, the number of detained increased to 159. In a statement released by the İstanbul Governor's Office in the early morning hours on February 2, it was announced that 98 students were released from detention.

On February 2, Boğaziçi University students gathered in Kadıköy Rıhtım for another protest, which was attacked by the police with plastic bullets and tear gas. 134 people were taken into custody by the police.

About Melih Bulu

Prof. Melih Bulu was appointed as the President of Haliç University on January 17, 2020. In office in this foundation university for less than a year, he has been appointed as the President of Boğaziçi University.

He was a Dean and University President at the İstinye University from 2016 to 2019. Between the years of 2010 and 2016, he was the Head of the Business Management Department of İstanbul Şehir University's Business Management and Management Science Faculty.

He was the General Coordinator of International Competitiveness Research Institute (URAK), an NGO working on economic competitiveness of cities and countries, from the year 2017 to 2019. Since 2011, he has been the Executive Board member of the İstanbul Electric-Electronic Machinery and Informatics Exporters R&D Market.

In 2002, he founded the Sarıyer District Organization of the ruling AKP in İstanbul. In 2015, he was a candidate for nomination to run in the Parliamentary elections from the AKP in the first election district in İstanbul.

He studied Industrial Engineering at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara in 1992. He did his MBA and PhD at Boğaziçi University's Department of Management.

(EKN/VK)