The Political Science Student Council stands in solidarity with the protesting students, academic staff and professors of Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, who are currently being subjected to repressive measures such as arrests and violence. The protests are against the appointment of Melih Bulu as president of Boğaziçi University by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The January 2021 appointment aims to bring universities in line with Erdoğan by installing AKP loyalists. This represents a massive encroachment on the autonomy of universities. Already since 2016, the Turkish state has repeatedly carried out mass arrests and forced de-registrations. Where these means are not sufficient to intimidate university members, violence is also used, for example by the police. During the current protests, the police used not only pepper spray, but also snipers.
The Fachschaft Politik classifies these interventions as fascist. The consequence for us is that we call on our university to exclude any cooperation with the AKP and its actors or sympathizers and to work through its networks at least for an amnesty for those involved in the protests. The goal must be that the autonomy of the university is restored and illegitimately placed persons are dismissed from their positions. We call on the university to support academics and students in Turkey and in exile who are critical of the Erdoğan government.
Hail to international solidarity!