ISTANBUL (AP) – Turkish police on Monday clashed with hundreds of students protesting the appointment of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a figure in connection with his ruling party as rector of one of Turkey’s most prestigious universities.
The students went to the Bogazici University campus to denounce the appointment of Melih Bulu, a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party, who was once a candidate in the parliamentary elections.
The students see Erdogan’s appointment as a move to curtail academic freedoms and demand the university’s right to choose its own rector. They chanted, “AKP, get your hands on our university,” referring to the ruling party. Several academics joined the protest.
The clashes erupted as some of the students tried to break through a police barricade at the entrance to the campus, Birgun reported. Police used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets to break up the protest. Several students were detained.
The ruling party’s spokesman, Omer Celik, defended Bulu’s appointment as “legal”.
“It is not a crime for a person to have a political vision,” Celik told reporters after a meeting of the ruling party led by Erdogan.
On Sunday, Bulu issued a statement saying it aims to make Bogazici one of the world’s top universities.