‘Symbolic power’: Melih Bulu was fired after months of campus protests
Academics in Turkey say they have won a rare victory for university autonomy after a politically appointed rector was dismissed following six months of protest.
The firing of Melih Bulu, a former ruling party candidate who was appointed at Boğaziçi University by the president in January, could be a turning point in the fight for academic freedom, they hope, which has come under intense pressure since a failed coup attempt in 2016.
Professor Bulu’s outside appointment − under a 2018 law that allows president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to choose rectors – sparked student and faculty protests at Boğaziçi, a highly selective institution with a strong tradition of democratically picking its leaders from within.
EU, international academics condemn detention of students
The European Union has condemned the arrest of two students in Turkey over a poster promoting LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) viewpoints, the detention of hundreds of students who protested against the arrests and the use of anti-LGBT hate speech by politicians and officials.
In addition, 3,317 academics, thinkers and writers from around the world have released a joint statement condemning the actions against the Bogazici University students and calling on the rector who was controversially appointed by the Turkish president without an election to resign.
A spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, in a statement, called the detention of student demonstrators and a decision by authorities to ban rallies around Istanbul’s elite Bogazici University “a deeply worrying development”.