Two Students Have to Attend All Classes According to Probation

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Two students at Marmara University Department of Journalism, İbrahim Hakkı Eren and Mert Soydan, were detained in police raids in their houses at 2 a.m. on November 20.

After three days in detention, they were held responsible for hanging a banner and sent to the judgeship, who released them on probation.

According to the judicial control measures imposed by the judgeship, they have to go to the police station twice a week and attend all classes at school, even if the professor does not show up. They are obliged not to be recorded as absent.

'Education is considered a punishment'

"What is quirky is that going to school is implemented as a punishment. This means that education is considered a punishment by the judicial system," Eren told bianet.

"Today, universities have become places where every political freedom is constrained, teachers who defend scientific education are being dismissed upon statutory decrees, plainclothes police officers and private security guards pile in.

"The system shows us that it turned universities into its own prisons. Now, judicial control of going to school has been added to these."

'We can't work'

He noted that because of the poor quality of the education, students prefer to work rather than going to school. He and Soydan also have to work but the six-day judicial control in a week prevents them from finding a job, he added.

"Usually, we enter an empty class. We go there and wait for the absent professor of the nonexistent class. Sometimes we call the professors. If we don't sign attendance, we will be remanded because we violate the judicial control," Eren remarked.

He further said that even probation officers were surprised at their situation and his family is concerned.

Mert Soydan said that he has to go to the police station on Saturdays and Sundays and to school on the other days. He is only free on Mondays and Saturdays and this prevents him from visiting his family who live in a different city, he told bianet. (İK/AS/VK)