As Boğaziçi University students protest against the appointment of Melih Bulu as rector of their university in Turkey, video footage of Bulu controversially talking about Turkey’s testing of “new weapons” in North East Syria has surfaced. The video is related to the military take-over of Ras-al-Ayn (Serêkaniye) in 2019 by Turkish armed forces and affiliated groups. Human Rights Watch refers to Turkish authorities in this area as “an occupying power”.
In the footage, Bulu answers a question regarding Rojava (North East Syria) before the take-over of Ras-al-Ayn (Serêkaniye). He states that they will test their new weapons in Rojava.
In the TV programme he was participating in, Bulu says: “Turkey is quite experienced regarding that issue: we tested them in operations Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch previously. Additionally, city wars also took place in Diyarbakır (Amed) and Nusaybin. We are experienced in those issues as well. We will probably capture the ones living there dead or alive, so there is nothing new there. Maybe only the duration will be longer but we will test our new weapons”, Hawar News Agency reports him as stating.
560 students detained
Meanwhile, protests have continued against Melih Bulu’s university appointment for over a month. According to Boğaziçi Solidarity (Boğaziçi Dayanışması), 560 students have been detained during this time-period: 24 were placed under house arrest and ten were arrested.
