ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced student protesters as “terrorists” and promised to crack down on demonstrations that oppose the appointment of a government supporter to head Istanbul’s most prestigious university.
Students and faculty members at the University of Bogazici spent weeks protesting Erdogan’s appointment of Melih Bulu on January 1, an academic who has already run for parliament as a candidate for Erdogan’s party. They asked Bulu to resign as university president and that the university could elect its own president, saying the appointment was an affront to academic freedoms.
Dozens of students were arrested in the midst of protests, some of them taken after home invasions.
“I do not accept these young people, who are members of terrorist groups, sharing the national and moral values of our country,” said Erdogan in a video speech to thousands of members of the ruling party who are holding regional congresses.
“Are you students … or are you terrorists trying to break into the dean’s office and occupy it?” he asked.
Erdogan went on to say that his government would not allow mass anti-government protests like those that swept Turkey in 2013. The protests were sparked by the government’s construction plans in Gezi Park, adjacent to Istanbul’s main Taksim square.
“This country will not be a country dominated by terrorists. We will never allow it, ”said the Turkish leader. “This country will not relive incidents like the Gezi events in Taksim.”
Tension increased this week after a group of students was arrested over a poster, displayed at the University of Bogazici, which depicted the most sacred place in Islam with flags of LGBT rights. The students were arrested over the weekend on charges of inciting hatred and insulting religious values.
More than 250 protesters were arrested after clashes with police in Istanbul on Monday and Tuesday. About 70 were also detained in the capital, Ankara, on Tuesday, during an organized demonstration in support of Bogazici students.
Erdogan said that LGBT values ”have no place” in Turkey’s future.
Meanwhile, Bulu told reporters on Wednesday that he does not intend to resign from the position of dean at the university, which is often described as “Turkey’s Harvard”.
He repeated that his goal was to make Bogazici one of the top 100 universities in the world.
Originally published