Students across Turkey are staging mass academic boycotts and demonstrations after the arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and the revocation of his university diploma. The protests, which began in İstanbul, have spread to major universities nationwide, with students condemning what they call an attack on academic freedom and democracy.
The backlash intensified after the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into the Education and Science Workers’ Union (Eğitim Sen), a prominent teachers’ union, for supporting student-led boycotts. The union had urged academics to refrain from work on 25 March, declaring that “there can be no university without students.” Prosecutors argue the call for action did not meet legal strike conditions.
The protests began after İstanbul University annulled İmamoğlu’s diploma, a move widely seen as politically motivated, followed by his subsequent arrest. In response, the Middle East Technical University (METU/ODTÜ) protest committee called for a nationwide boycott, which quickly gained momentum. Students at Bilkent, Hacettepe, and Dokuz Eylül universities organised forums, while those at İstanbul Technical University (İTÜ), Boğaziçi University, Galatasaray University, Ankara University, Bahçeşehir University, Yıldız Technical University, Ege University, Özyeğin University, İstanbul Bilgi University, Abant İzzet Baysal University, Koç University, Gebze Technical University, Anadolu University walked out of classes.
At ODTÜ, thousands of students marched across campus, chanting slogans and holding banners. Similar demonstrations erupted at Yıldız Technical University and Ege University, where students declared their refusal to attend classes in opposition to “anti-democratic practices”.
Authorities have attempted to contain the protests, with security personnel at İTÜ reportedly locking building doors to prevent students from joining the demonstrations. In response, students found alternative ways to exit through windows.
At Boğaziçi University, the student council had already announced a strike on 23 March, and classes were disrupted as students rallied against what they described as increasing political interference in academia. Meanwhile, Hacettepe University students displayed a banner reading, “Everywhere is ODTÜ, everywhere is resistance,” in solidarity with the growing movement.
As tensions rise, students at Ege University issued a call for the creation of “student assemblies” to coordinate further action. Dokuz Eylül University students, who gathered for a campus forum, declared their intention to continue boycotting classes while protesting arrests and detentions.
The student-led movement signals a deepening crisis between academia and government authorities in Turkey, with growing fears that university autonomy and democratic rights are under threat.
