Boğaziçi University students gathered in the Kadıköy district of Istanbul, Turkey, to state their demands for a free and democratic university.
Students made a press statement demanding the resignation of pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP) rector Melih Bulu and the release of detained students. Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Musa Piroğlu attended the statement alongside students, according to the Mesopotamia Agency’s report.
Joint resistance against oppression
Students described the ill treatment they were subjected to after being arrested and detained and said they would carry on their fight, before commenting on the the closure case filed against the HDP and emphasising the importance of a joint struggle.
Boğaziçi University student Hazal Bozkurt said they would not give up the battle against injustice and discrimination. “We know that those in power, who want to cover up their crisis of legitimacy, will continue to attack our actions via oppressive means in order to hold power even for one more day. But if they will not give us our freedom, we will take it.”
Demanding an end to arbitrary detentions, abuse and rape, Bozkurt said that the state’s oppressive means could not remove their resistance, adding that students did not recognise the trustee rector and would fight for a free and democratic university.
The demands
Bozkurt stated the students’ demands as follows:
-Release our friends, who have been detained and arrested during Boğaziçi resistance, immediately.
-End the campaign to discredit LGBTI+ individuals and other groups, and re-open the BULGBTİ+ club.
-All trustees, especially Melih Bulu, resign!
-Hold a democratic election for rectors with university-wide participation.
-Stop the police blockade inside and outside the university immediately.
