Boğaziçi academics apply to Council of State for cancellation of rector appointment
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More than 70 academics from Boğaziçi University have applied to the Council of State, requesting the cancellation of the appointment of Prof. Melih Bulu as the university's rector.
Submitting their application to the court yesterday (March 1), the academics pointed out that rectors can't be members of political parties, citing the Higher Education Law.
Bulu, a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), was appointed as the rector by President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on January 2.
The appointment was "illegal and far from being compatible with constitutional principles and rules although it was compatible with provisions of the current legislation in a formal sense," said the academics.
"Boğaziçi is resisting" (Drawing: Gianluca Costantini)
"Legally crippled"
"The discretionary authority exercised by Mr. President was unfortunately against the public interest and used without considering the impact of the appointment. In addition to being against the Constitution, the proceeding is legally crippled in terms of purpose," they stated.
Noting that the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) announced on its website on October 9 that a new rector would be appointed to the university and applications should be made via email until October 23, the academics said, "It is not understandable why the announcement regarding the appointment of an important staff such as a rector was announced in such a short time and on a website in a way that made it difficult to be heard about."
Also citing the Presidential Decree No. 141, the academics noted that applications for the rectorship should be made with petitions and there were no regulations about applications via email.
The protection of universities' institutional and scientific autonomy is guaranteed by both the Constitution and international conventions, said the academics.
"While there are so many professors at Boğaziçi University who have the proficiency, the decision for the appointment of Prof. Melih Bulu, who is unable to be admitted as an academic at the university, let alone being a rector, as per the university's customary practices, needs to be annulled on the grounds that it is against the Constitution and that the exercised discretionary power was against the public interest," stated the academics.
About Melih BuluProf. Melih Bulu was appointed as the President of Haliç University on January 17, 2020. In office in this foundation university for less than a year, he has been appointed as the President of Boğaziçi University. He was a Dean and University President at the İstinye University from 2016 to 2019. Between the years of 2010 and 2016, he was the Head of the Business Management Department of İstanbul Şehir University's Business Management and Management Science Faculty. He was the General Coordinator of International Competitiveness Research Institute (URAK), an NGO working on economic competitiveness of cities and countries, from the year 2017 to 2019. Since 2011, he has been the Executive Board member of the İstanbul Electric-Electronic Machinery and Informatics Exporters R&D Market. In 2002, he founded the Sarıyer District Organization of the ruling AKP in İstanbul. In 2015, he was a candidate for nomination to run in the Parliamentary elections from the AKP in the first election district in İstanbul. He studied Industrial Engineering at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara in 1992. He did his MBA and PhD at Boğaziçi University's Department of Management. What happened?Prof. Melih Bulu was appointed as the President of Boğaziçi University in a Presidential Decree published in the Official Gazette on January 1, 2021. The appointment of Bulu sparked harsh criticisms among both the students and academics of the university as well as in the academic community. Appointed to Boğaziçi, one of the most prestigious universities in Turkey, from outside its community, Bulu was a candidate for nomination to run in the Parliamentary elections in 2015 for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The students and several students' clubs of the university campaigned on social media under the hashtag #kayyımrektöristemiyoruz (We don't want a trustee-rector). The call of the students was also supported by the faculty members of the university, who released a joint statement on January 3. "An academic outside Bogazici University community was appointed as rector (university president), which is a practice introduced for the first time after the 1980s military tutelage," read their statement. Amid harsh criticisms of students and faculty members, Prof. Bulu shared a message on his Twitter account, welcoming his appointment to the position, saying, "We are all in the same boat." The students protested the appointment of Bulu in front of the South Campus of the university in İstanbul on January 4. However, the police intervened into the protest with pepper gas and plastic bullets. Next day, it was reported that there were detention warrants against 28 people for "violating the law on meetings and demonstrations" and "resisting the officer on duty." Later in the day, 22 of them were detained. 40 people in total were detained over the protests. All of the detained were released on January 7 and 8, 2021. The protests of students and faculty members at the South Campus of Boğaziçi University have been going on since January 4. Taken into custody over a picture of the Kaaba, a sacred site in Islam, with a Shahmaran figure and four LGBTI+ flags on its corners, two students were arrested and two were placed under house arrest over this picture displayed at an exhibition as part of the protests at the South Campus. On February 1, police stormed the South Campus and intervened into the students' protests. Earlier in the day, the students gathered in front of the campus for the protest. Police hindered the protest while also preventing the students inside the South Campus from joining their friends outside. With the 51 students taken into custody inside the campus in the evening, the number of detained increased to 159. In a statement released by the İstanbul Governor's Office in the early morning hours on February 2, it was announced that 98 students were released from detention. On February 2, Boğaziçi University students gathered in Kadıköy Rıhtım for another protest, which was attacked by the police with plastic bullets and tear gas. 134 people were taken into custody by the police. Two of the protesters were arrested by the court afterwards. On February 6, four more people were arrested and two others were placed under house arrest over their participation in Boğaziçi protests in Kadıköy. On the same day, Erdoğan issued a Presidential decree to open two new faculties at the university. In response to this, the Boğaziçi Solidarity platform addressed an open letter to the "12th President of Turkey." A day later, student Beyza Buldağ was taken into custody for allegedly administering the "Boğaziçi Solidarity" Twitter account and arrested for "provoking the public to hatred, enmity and hostility" and "provoking to commit crimes" over both the letter and other Twitter posts. As of February 7, the Boğaziçi Solidarity platform announced that at least 560 students were detained, 25 were sentenced to house arrest and 10 were arrested. Students have been arrested on charges of "degrading or provoking the public to hatred and hostility" and "resisting to prevent fulfilment of duty" as per the Articles 216 and 265 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). CLICK - Why are 11 university students arrested? On February 10, one more student was arrested. With the release of Beyza Buldağ and Muhammed Önal on February 12, there remained nine students arrested over Boğaziçi University protests against the appointed rector. On February 22, two more students were placed under house arrest on the grounds that they distributed the letter of an arrested student to citizens. |
(EKN/VK)