Tag: Bogazici University

Boğaziçi University’s LGBTI+ Studies Club Closed

According to the news of Bianet, Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun has shared a decision with the signature of rector Melih Bulu and announced that Boğaziçi University’s LGBTI+ Studies Candidate Club has been closed, arguing that the protests are “about it all.”

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) targeted the LGBTI+ community after Boğaziçi University students used a picture of Kaaba – a holy site for Muslims – featuring LGBTI+ flags in an exhibition during the ongoing protests.

The picture was on the floor to be hung as part of an exhibition at the university’s South Campus when Boğaziçi University’s Islamic Studies Club (BİSAK) noticed it and deemed it an insult towards Islam.

“An art exhibition was launched on the campus on Thursday [Jan. 28] via using the ongoing protests against the rector appointment as an excuse,” BİSAK tweeted on Jan. 29, referring to the month-long protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rector appointment to the university.

“We will never allow our Islamic values to be made fun of within our university. We don’t accept this immorality to be legitimized under the guise of art,” BİSAK said, which immediately drew the attention of pro-government and Islamist media outlets.

Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun has announced that Prof. Melih Bulu, who has been appointed as the new rector of Boğaziçi University by President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has closed the LGBTI+ Studies Candidate Club over an investigation launched into a picture featuring the Kaaba, which also led to the arrest of two students at the weekend.

Decision of closure

In the official document signed by Bulu and sent to the related units of Boğaziçi University, a reference was made to the investigation which led to the arrest of two students and house arrest of two others.

“The candidacy status of the LGBTI+ Studies Candidate Club has been lifted on the grounds of the activities subjected to the related investigation and organization of events without permission,” the decision has read.

Source: Bianet and Duvar English

Student Protests at Bogazici University

Students of Istanbul’s Bogazici University defied President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s appointment of Melih Bulu as their school’s rector for a third day in a row, accompanied by more police officers than the previous demonstrations. Students marched to the ferry docks after a protest on campus, crossed the Bosphorus and joined a crowd of hundreds more in Kadıköy.

Melih Bulu was appointed rector on January 1 by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and is a member of his ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP. He was rector of Halic University in Istanbul before assuming his new post.

“We do not want an appointed rector. Melih Bulu is not our rector,” student representatives said in a press statement, demanded his resignation and that of other politically appointed rectors.

“It is not a crime if a rector has a political identity,” Omer Celik, the spokesperson of the AKP, told a press conference on Tuesday.

The first protest, on Monday, was held at the Bogazici University campus. Dozens of students were detained during and after the protest by police.

LGBTI+ students attended the protests with rainbow flags.