Erdogan describes the protesting students as “terrorists”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the protesting students and described them as “terrorists”, pledging to launch a campaign against the opposition demonstrations to appoint a government close to the presidency of the oldest university in Istanbul.

Students and faculty at the Bosphorus University, “Bogazzi”, spent weeks protesting against a decision made by Erdogan on January 1 to appoint Melih Polo, an academic who had previously run for parliament for the ruling Justice and Development Party, to head the educational institution.

The protesters called for Polo to resign from the university deanship, and they also called for the university to be allowed to elect its president, saying that the appointment is a restriction of academic freedoms.

Dozens of students were arrested amid the protests, while other students were arrested after raiding their homes.

Today, Wednesday, Erdogan said in a video address to thousands of members of the ruling party who are in charge of local councils in Turkey: “I do not accept that these young people, who are members of terrorist groups, share our national values ​​and morals in our country.” He asked, “Are you students or are you terrorists trying to storm the Dean’s office and occupy it?”

Erdogan added that his government would not allow anti-government protests, such as the one that swept Turkey in 2013. The protests were sparked at the time by government plans to construct buildings in Gezi Park, which borders Istanbul’s main Taksim Square.

Erdogan added, “These countries will not be a country dominated by terrorists. We will never allow this. These countries will never again experience accidents like Gezi in Taksim.”

More than 250 protesters were arrested after clashes with police in Istanbul on Monday and Tuesday. About 70 people were also arrested in the capital, Ankara, Tuesday, during a demonstration in support of students at the Bosphorus University.

For his part, Polo told reporters, on Wednesday, that he does not intend to resign from his position as rector of the university, which has long been described as “Harvard Turkey.” He reiterated that his goal is to make the Bosphorus University one of the 100 most important universities in the world.

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