tw // police brutality, homophobia, guns, violence, abuse, fascism, corruption

In January 2nd 2021 Melih Bulu, who has political ties to the ruling party was appointed as rector of Boğaziçi University by the President Erdoğan without any election or consent from the uni members. Boğaziçi University is considered one of the few higher education faculties who are up to par with international standards. because of our "homebrew" govermental system, all education is directly controlled by the government. And although all of our schools are eventually affected by this Boğaziçi remained somewhat untouched. That was however until january 2nd. Here is an article explaining the process much better.

Melih Bulu was not a professor at Boğaziçi beforehand and it was appearent that he was underqualified, such thing only happened once during 80’s coup and it is a serious violation of universities’ academic autonomy and democracy & it is unlike any other european unis. It got proved that Melih Bulu did plagiarism in his thesis and articles and tried to justify it as just “copy-paste” which is obviously unacceptable and furtermore shows he is incapable of being Boğaziçi University’s rector. Everyone at school urged him to resign immediately. Everyday students and professors meet at the campus to peacefully protest against this anti-democratic appointment with open lectures, concerts, forums, art exhibitions etc. but with the government’s support Melih Bulu refuses to listen anybody from the university. From the first days of protests, Melih Bulu let police into the campus to threaten the students and created an unsafe environment at their own school. Students got their houses raided and doors knocked down in the middle of the night because of the protest, they trapped the students inside the campus by handcuffing the gates and pepper-sprayed them, used rubber bullets, shields. Police took many students into custody to make them give up. However the protests got even bigger with other universities support, the lecturers of the school joined them with clapping everyday during lunchtime, even under snow.

Then a students club organized a small pop-up art installation. Where this artwork was included. According to the artist this artwork is about "the return of the strong woman (symbolized by Şahmeran, the snake woman) to the center of worship and the alienation of LGBT identities by organize religion. Then a conservaitve students group took offence with either the LGBT identities being side by side with Kabaa (a holy site in Islam) or the piece being on the ground waiting to be installed, but the rest were too. Here is BOUN students' statement video regarding the latest misunderstandings about the exhibiton, which was followed by the arrests of two of their friends. Various political figures made terrible claims against LGBT community and showed that Turkey is not a safe place for most of us meanwhile Melih Bulu only further provoked it by calling LGBT students “perverts”. More than a hundred police blockaded the campus so the students inside couldn’t go out and the others couldn’t get in and some snipers here to intimidate university students. Police scolded students walking on the street by saying “look down” and started taking them in custody for only this reason. And the covid precautions... They were certainly not a problem for an Erdoğan rally he seemed too proud of, or the radical Islamist group chanting jihad in the other side of Istanbul.

The students inside the campus demanded Melih Bulu’s resignation and started a peaceful sit-in but later police violently forced them to leave the campus. An army of police pourd into the campus. It is reported that almost 150 students are forcefully being taken to police stations. There are some heavy injuries, and it seems at least one student suffered a concussion. Also, a documents ordering the closure of the Boğaziçi's LGBT club circulated and although it was the presidencies communication director was the one that put this up, there are doubts about it's integrity. Today a meeting is organized at Kadıköy in the Asian side of Istanbul. Police are trying to cut access to the district and detaining students. ID checks are made to identify and stop BOUN students.

We demand Melih Bulu’s resignation. We demand police to leave campuses. We demand immediate release of our friends. We demand free universities.

Please spread these hashtags #AşağıBakmayacağız (we won't look down) #LGBTİHaklarıİnsanHakları (LGBT rights are human rights) #BoğaziciAblukada (Boğaziçi under siege)

Here's some thread links for further info: 1 2 3 4 5

Here's a helpful carrd asagibakmayacagiz.carrd.co

Head of left-wing Turkish Workers Party tells parliament that it is a constitutional crime for the state to be targeting LGBTI students

If you want to follow the updates and keep track on what's going on with Boğazici University and the protests, you can support by following @resistBU (eng) @budirenisi (tr)

To be honest there isn't much to be done here. No petition will work and no donation will reach us. This post is for informing people only. I don't see anyone talking about this here so please spread this. Don't just like and scroll. Help us raise awarness. We would appreciate it if you raised some voice. SPREAD IT AROUND.

“ışığı yüzüme vuran yıldız  ölü binlerce yıldır.”

“Özlemektir bu: şeylerin akışında yaşamak,   şimdide bir evi olmamak.”

soyluluğumu anımsıyorum. Bir gece fark ettim sinemada mıydı bir şehirde mi bilmiyorum

önce her şeyi ben hazırlıyorum sonra geliyorlar saat ikide mi, içkide mi, on birde mi bilmiyorum

karışıklık! Keçileri seviyorum tuz gibi susuzlukta mı, şöyle akşamlarda mı bilmiyorum

her şey bozuktur bir öğle yürüyüşünde günlerin akıttığı ırmaklardan mı bilmiyorum

ben tutunurum saatsiz bir yelkovana saat ikide mi, kırılmada mı, on birde mi bilmiyorum

adın bir güzelliğe yakışır elbet yakışır bir intiharda mı, bir şiirde mi bilmiyorum

“Bildiğim bir iki şeyi profesörüm Sorel’den öğrendim. Ne olmak istediğimi sorduğunda diplomat demiştim. Servetiniz var mı? Diye sordu, yok dedim. Öyleyse diplomatlıktan vazgeçin dedi. Peki ne olayım? Dedim. Meraklı olun, dedi. Ama bu bir meslek değil deyince, henüz değil dedi. Seyahat edin, yazın, tercüme yapın. Her yerde yaşamayı öğrenin. Gelecek, profesyonel meraklılarındır.