CHP Chair slams Erdoğan over appointment of university president

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Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu addressed the reporters at the party headquarters in Ankara yesterday (January 5).

Addressing a series of current issues on Turkey's agenda, Kılıçdaroğlu also talked about the appointment of Prof. Melih Bulu, an academic outside its community, as a president to Boğaziçi University by President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

As Prof. Bulu was also a candidate for nomination to run in the Parliamentary elections for Erdoğan's AKP in 2015, this appointment has caused an outrage among both the students and academics.

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Mentioning the ongoing protests within this context, CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said that the legal arrangements made by the military junta on September 12, 1980 were still in place:

"Erdoğan can appoint whomever he wants as a university president. He has only one condition: He or she must be from his party. He or she must stand on the side of Erdoğan and applaud him. He or she must not attach any importance to scientific independence. His or her only duty is to applaud Erdoğan and his friends. The ones who have these qualities can easily be appointed as presidents to universities."

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Underlining the importance of academic independence, Kılıçdaroğlu referred to July 20, when the State of Emergency was declared in Turkey after the failed coup attempt on Juy 15 in 2016, and said:

"Can there be a better picture of the coup period, of the July 20 coup, than this picture? You handcuffed the gate of a university."

'One person has been authorized'

He also talked about the remarks of AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik, who had said, "It is not a crime for a person to have a political identity."

In response to this comment, Kılıçdaroğlu said, "How were university presidents elected when Erdoğan came to power? Universities used to elect them; they used to determine three candidates and the President used to choose one among them. Then, what happened after July 20?

"The elections have been abolished, one person has been authorized and he now appoints presidents to universities. There is no difference between the coup on September 12 and the coup on July 20; this is what they do." (DŞ/SD)