A detailed description by judgeship: ‘How the student got up on rector’s vehicle’

* Photo: Boğaziçi Resistance, Twitter

Click to read the article in Turkish

In the ruling of arrest given for Boğaziçi University students Caner Perit Özen and Ersin Berke Gök, it is emphasized that a student got up on the vehicle of Naci İnci, the appointed rector of the university.

The related ruling of the penal judgeship also argues that one of the students grabbed a security guard around the neck.

In the ruling given by the İstanbul 9th Penal Judgeship yesterday evening (October 6), the minutes on the camera footage are cited as evidence. However, it is also argued that there is a suspicion of "tampering with evidence" by students and said that the evidence has not yet been collected.

The ruling also shares a detailed description of how the student got up on the appointed rector's vehicle based on this camera footage.

Some excerpts from the ruling are as follows:

"...While Prof. Mehmet Naci İNCİ was leaving, he acted together with the group that intercepted his official vehicle; it was seen that he approached the security guard who was trying to take suspect Ersin Berke GÖK from the top of the vehicle from behind, grabbed him around his neck with his arm and pulled him; suspect Ersin Berke GÖK checked inside the vehicle after it arrived in front of the building; while it was leaving, he acted together with the group that intercepted the vehicle; then, while it was leaving, he lied on the bonnet of the vehicle; then, he got on top and sat; he was prevented from getting on top; then, he walked on the vehicle, came to the top and showed victory sign to the group; he tried to hold on to the top in a lying position; he resisted the official who tried to take him down..."

Rector İnci applied to the prosecutor's office against his 14 students on charges of "threat, insult, damage to property, resisting for preventing duty and violating the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations."

What happened?

10 students were taken into custody at Boğaziçi University in İstanbul the other day (October 5) on the grounds that they joined the protests against Naci İnci, the appointed rector of the university.

Three students were released from detention after giving their statements at the police station. Held in detention at night, seven students were referred to the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan yesterday after the related formalities had been completed at the police station.

Interrogated at the prosecutor's office, four students were released on probation while three were referred to judgeship to be arrested.

The İstanbul Penal Judgeship of Peace on Duty has ruled that two students shall be arrested and one shall be released on probation.

Erdoğan targeted the students

President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the 2021-2022 Higher Education Academic Year Opening Ceremony and targeted the students who have been protesting the appointed rector as "terrorists." Erdoğan briefly said:

"We are sadly following that some people are not troubled with appreciating what is done about higher education, as in the case of every other issue. I especially cannot accept a Turkey where students get on top of the rector's car and stamp there. Such students are not necessary for us.

"Your rector is inside the vehicle, you intercept him and then get on top of the vehicle and start stamping. There cannot be such a student. They must be terrorists who infiltrated universities at the most."

In his Parliamentary group speech yesterday, he also said:

"We do not consider these types who do not have respect even for their own professors to be students. They do not keep any of these types at the university in Europe or the United States even for a day.

"Just because they are causing trouble for the government, they lay claim to the disrespectful, loveless, ill intentioned and, so to speak, terrorist types. God willing, we will solve this problem within its own sphere without giving opportunity to the ill intentioned as soon as possible. We cannot leave our universities to the terror-like [students]." (AS/SD)