Istanbul: Boğaziçi University students clash with police

PanARMENIAN.Net - Students and staff at an Istanbul university have clashed with police in rare protests sparked by the politically charged appointment of a state-approved rector with links to Turkey’s conservative ruling party, The Guardian reports.

Melih Bulu – who stood as a Justice and Development party (AKP) parliamentary candidate in 2015 – was appointed rector of Boğaziçi University by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a presidential decree issued on 1 January and sworn into office on Tuesday.

The decision was met with outrage from the student body and faculty members, who interpreted Bulu’s appointment as an attempt at curtailing academic freedoms, saying the new rector was the first to be chosen from outside the university community since the 1980 military coup.

Police in riot gear blockaded roads around the campus in preparation for a third day of protests on Wednesday, outnumbering the few hundred students who showed up to chant “Melih, step down” and “AKP, take your hands off our university”.

The heavy police presence, arrests of at least 24 students detained in home raids and an order from Istanbul’s governor to stay home also dampened Wednesday’s numbers. About 1,000 people took part in the demonstrations on Monday and Tuesday, during which clashes broke out as some students attempted to break police lines to enter the university grounds. Police used teargas, water cannon and rubber bullets to break up the protests.

Boğaziçi University, named for the Bosphorus strait the campus overlooks, was founded in 1863 and known as Robert College until the 1970s. Often described as Turkey’s most prestigious university, it has a longstanding reputation for tolerance and intellectual independence, and was the only higher learning institution in the country to defy the then secularist state ban on headscarves on university campuses in 1997.

Bulu, in an interview with Turkish television, said he would not bend to the pressure to resign because his appointment “met global standards”. Police were present to stop non-students from entering campus, he added, but “Boğaziçi students can protest wherever and however they want”.

The rector also revealed he is a fan of heavy metal and Metallica, leading students to soundtrack much of Wednesday’s protest with the band’s song, ‘Master of Puppets’.