‘We are a witness to Şeyma, we stand with her’
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Şeyma Altundal was one of the students who were taken into custody in front of the Rector's Office at Boğaziçi University on February 1 while protesting Prof. Melih Bulu, the appointed rector of the university.
She announced that she had been battered while being taken into custody, adding that her veil opened during the detention, but the police did not allow her to put it back on. This statement was denied by the Directorate General of Security with a video on social media.
Posting the below tweet, the directorate said:
"'... Şeyma Altundal, one of the detained students, was dragged on the floor while being detained; her veil opened, but she was not allowed to put it back on...' Struggling against the crimes of every stripe, the Turkish Police is also struggling against the lies of every stripe."
"Struggle will continue," added the directorate.
"Gözaltına alınan öğrencilerden Şeyma Altundal gözaltı yapılırken yerlerde sürüklendiğini, başörtüsünün açıldığını, başörtüsünü yeniden takmasına izin verilmediğini..."
— Türk Polis Teşkilatı (@EmniyetGM) February 3, 2021
Suçun her türlüsüyle mücadele eden Türk Polisi, yalanın her türlüsüyle de mücadele ediyor
Mücadeleye devam pic.twitter.com/vBXaKKqcJZ
After this tweet and video were shared by the directorate, the woman was also targeted by some social media users.
In response to this dismissal of the allegations and targeting remarks, a group of students have dismissed this dismissal by posting a video on the Boğaziçi Solidarity platform's Twitter account.
Shared under the hashtags #ŞeymayaŞahidiz (We are a witness to Şeyma) and #ŞeymanınYanındayız (We stand with Şeyma), the video has featured the remarks of the students who were waiting in front of the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan in solidarity with their detained 51 friends, who were then released by the court shortly afterwards.
The students have stressed that the video shared by the Directorate General of Security was not captured while Şeyma was being detained, but while she was taken to a hospital for a medical check.
They have also noted that the hours indicated in the video shared by the directorate does not match with the hours indicated in the police report.
One of the students has said in the video:
"I was with her when she was detained; she was subjected to violence while being detained, not while being taken to the hospital. The videos shared by the security directorate do not reflect the truth."
While 51 students were referred to the İstanbul Courthouse yesterday, all of the students were released later in the evening, including Altundal. (EKN/SD)