Many universities in Turkey published a joint statement against the police’s use of disproportionate force against students who participated in demonstrations in the United States of America (USA) to protest Israel’s attacks on Gaza. Students, academics and politicians recalled the interventions made in the demonstrations in Turkey and described the statement as “hypocrisy”.
Students at many universities in the USA are protesting Israel’s attacks on Gaza. Reuters’According to the news, at least 550 people were detained during the protests at universities.
Many universities in Turkey also issued a joint statement condemning the police intervention against students during the protests in the USA.
The statement published in both Turkish and English on the universities’ social media accounts said:
“For more than six months, violence has been carried out against university students who peacefully protested the brutality aimed at destroying innocent people living in Gaza. Protesters at many universities, from Columbia University to Yale, from New York University to Harvard, are demanding that their universities support calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and cut ties with companies linked to Israel. Students are detained during the protests, and universities switch to distance education to stop the protests. “We accept the disproportionate reaction against the peaceful reaction of university students as a blow to fundamental human rights and academic freedom, and we deeply regret and strongly condemn it.”
After the joint statement published by the universities, many people on social media accused the universities of “hypocrisy” and reminded them of the student protests in Turkey.
Appointed rector Naci İnci also reacted to the detentions
Prof. was appointed as rector of Boğaziçi University by AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on August 21, 2021. Dr. Naci İnci tweeted from her X account about the academics detained during the protests in the USA.
İnci closed the comments on her post.
CHP Istanbul Deputy Namık Tan reacted to İnci on account
CHP Istanbul Deputy Yunus Emre reminded the students detained during the Boğaziçi University protests, “If we did not know that your students who protested you were tried, that a travel ban was imposed due to the trial, that the students could not go to postgraduate education even though they had won scholarships due to this ban, and that some of these young people whose lives you made miserable were given prison sentences, “Maybe we could take it seriously,” he wrote.
Professor Ali Yaycıoğlu from the Department of History at Stanford University, in his post on the “Just keep quiet,” he wrote. https://twitter.com/GMunzam/status/1783716982833197273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1783723525888790654%7Ctwgr%5E913d60f34e57f7c8bef233feee2f17d082013779%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedyascope.tv%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D436012action%3Dedit
— Ali Yaycıoğlu (@ayayciog) https://twitter.com/ayayciog/status/1783723525888790654?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
METU closed the statement for comments
METU removed the statement it first published after the reactions. The university later republished the same statement and closed the post to comments.
In the reactions to the tweet, previous interventions for students at METU were reminded.
Istanbul University also published a statement regarding the students detained in the USA with the note “Public Announcement”.
Istanbul University Student Solidarity reacted to the university’s statement in the post on the X account. In the statement, “The administration, which had its student beaten with a baton by the police in front of the main gate, talks about democracy and freedom of expression. “The school administration’s concern, which is trying to cover up the government’s hypocritical Palestine policy by revealing the trade with Israel, is neither democracy nor Palestine,” it said.
Tags: Hypocrisy reaction students Turkish universities supporting Gaza protest
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