Main opposition leader visits Boğaziçi protestors, calls gov’t-appointed rector ‘occupier’

Özgür Özel, the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), visited the İstanbul-based Boğaziçi University to show solidarity with academics and students protesting against rectors appointed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the ANKA news agency reported on Friday.

A prolonged series of protests have been taking place at Boğaziçi University since Erdoğan first appointed Melih Bulu, a former AKP politician, in January 2021, and then Naci İnci, in August 2021, as the university’s rector.

Both appointments sparked protests and criticism for being undemocratic, as the university community wanted to see the university’s rector selected as a result of a democratic process rather than an appointment made by Erdoğan. They also objected to the appointment of figures considered to be pro-Erdoğan.

Turkish presidents have had the authority to appoint individuals who did not come in first in elections for rector, but a presidential decree issued during the post-coup state of emergency declared in 2016 removed the elections altogether, granting Erdoğan full authority to appoint university rectors.

University staff members have been standing with their backs turned to the rectorate building every day in protest of the president’s appointed rectors since the protests first began in January 2021.

Özel visited the university on Friday to support the 971st vigil, part of protests that have been going on for 205 weeks.

He told reporters that the vigil is held in front of the rectorate building because “there is no rector there, only a trustee, an occupier.”

He recalled the handcuffs put on the gates of the university by the police to prevent entry when the protests first began in January 2021, saying that handcuffs on that gate are “a symbol of how the palace [Erdoğan] regime views the university.”

Özel praised the university’s academics for tirelessly and resolutely resisting the government-appointed trustees, despite facing investigations and legal action, with some having their positions unlawfully terminated.

He said that although the Boğaziçi University academics and students had acted cautiously, handling the issue themselves to prevent harm to the institution, it has now become clear there needs to be more public awareness and support to their struggle.

“As the Republican People’s Party [CHP] … we will provide as much support as is needed on this issue. … We will not let this trustee and this palace [Erdoğan] regime get away with what they have done,” he vowed.

Erdoğan is accused by critics of trying to eliminate academic freedom in the country by appointing figures close to his government as university rectors, dismissing academics who criticize his policies and replacing them with pro-government figures.

According to a recent update to an index drafted by German and Swedish scholars, academic freedom in Turkey has sharply declined in the past 15 years, putting the country in 164th place among 179 countries as of December 2023.