Turkey: Student Protests Erupted in Istanbul, 160 Arrested

Wide clashes erupted in Istanbul city, Turkey, along the last day as students and faculty members at Bogazici University, the country’s most prestigious and Western-oriented university, have been calling for weeks the newly appointed rector to resign.

An unprecedented police crackdown took place against the protesters. Media reports quoted witnesses that snipers were positioned on rooftops overlooking the university, while hundreds of police attacked and arrested students during the protests. More than 160 students were reportedly arrested.

Critics claim that Melih Bulu — appointed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Jan. 1 as a “New Year surprise” — is a “political figure.”

The appointment has triggered anger at the university, which traditionally elects the rector from its own ranks rather than having outside appointee directly affiliated with the ruling government.

The Turkish president was given authority to appoint rectors in 2016, but it is the first time that a controversial appointment has sparked public outcry in the country.

One protester was arrested for refusing to look at the ground and behaving too proudly. The hashtag “We Won’t Look Down” became a trending topic in few minutes.

The main entrance of the campus was sealed off by police to prevent members of opposition parties joining the protest. Several parliamentarians from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) waited at the gates of the university.

The overwhelming majority of students and faculty members would stop the protests only with the withdrawal of the rector or his resignation.

“We also ask for the release of all our friends immediately in addition to our core demand,” Piril Gumurdulu, a student who has attended the protests for a month, said.

“The appointment is meant to politicize our university, which has provided the most brilliant minds in this society who have taken up high positions in every sector. They want to take away our academic autonomy,” she added.

The new rector also has faced criticism for his credentials and has been accused of plagiarism in his academic writings. Bulu has defended himself by saying that he forgot to add quotation marks in dissertations when quoting other people.

“The Turkish government’s tyranny now turns against students of Bogazici University. Many are being arrested for peacefully protesting against the government-appointed rector,” Kati Piri, former European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur, tweeted.

The police crackdown came in a time when Erdogan is calling for the drafting of a new constitution with the agreement of his nationalistic coalition partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), triggering concerns about a threat to personal freedoms.

In 2018, Turkey transitioned from a parliamentary system to an executive presidential system that concentrated most powers in the hands of the president. The transition came following a referendum that amended several articles of the 1982 Constitution.

An estimated 6 million new younger voters will go to the polls in 2023, and recent surveys reveal that this generation is highly frustrated with the deteriorating political climate and restrictions on personal freedoms.