ISTANBUL (AP) – Turkish police clashed on Monday with hundreds of students protesting the appointment of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a figure with ties to his ruling party as rector of one of Turkey’s most prestigious universities.
The students marched to the Bogazici University campus to denounce the appointment of Melih Bulu, a member of the Justice and Development Party, who has already run for parliamentary elections.
Students regard the appointment as an Erdogan move to restrict academic freedoms and demand the university’s right to elect its own dean. They shouted: “AKP, get your hands off our university”, in reference to the ruling party. Several academics joined the protest.
The clashes began when some of the students tried to break through a police barricade at the entrance to the campus, Birgun newspaper reported. The police used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets to stop the protest. Several students were arrested.
The ruling party 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 chaired by Erdogan.
On Sunday, Bulu issued a statement saying he intended to make Bogazici one of the best universities in the world.