İSTANBUL - After 17 people were detained for protesting the appointment of a university president to Boğaziçi by President and AKP Chair Erdoğan, five more people were detained in late evening hours yesterday. There were reportedly warrants against 28 people.

 

The number of people detained for protesting the appointment of Prof. Melih Bulu as the president of Boğaziçi University has risen to 22.

 

While there were detention warrants against 28 people on charges of "violating the Law 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations" and "resisting the officer on duty," 17 of these 28 people were detained in house raids in several districts of İstanbul in the morning yesterday (January 5).

 

In a written statement released by the Security Directorate of İstanbul, it has been indicated that of the 28 people against whom a detention warrant has been issued, four are Boğaziçi students.

 

WHAT HAPPENED?

 

Prof. Melih Bulu has been appointed as the President of Boğaziçi University in a Presidential Decree issued on January 1. The appointment of Bulu has sparked harsh criticisms among both the students and academics of the university as well as in the academic community.

 

Appointed to Boğaziçi, one of the most prestigious universities in Turkey, from outside its community, Bulu was a candidate for nomination to run in the Parliamentary elections in 2015 for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

 

The students and several students' clubs of the university have been campaigning on social media under the hashtag #kayyımrektöristemiyoruz (We don't want a trustee university president).

 

The call of the students was also supported by the faculty members of the university, who released a joint statement on January 3.

 

"An academic outside Bogazici University community was appointed as rector (university president), which is a practice introduced for the first time after the 1980s military tutelage," read their statement.

 

Amid harsh criticisms of students and faculty members, Prof. Bulu has shared a message on his Twitter account, welcoming his appointment to the position, saying, "We are all in the same boat."

 

The students protested the appointment of Bulu in front of the South Campus of the university in İstanbul on January 4. However, the police intervened into the protest with pepper gas and plastic bullets.

 

Next day, it was reported that there were detention warrants against 28 people for "violating the law on meetings and demonstrations" and "resisting the officer on duty." Later in the day, 22 of them were detained.