Turkey Jails 2 Students over Protests
A court in Istanbul sent two university students to jail on Friday over protests against President Recep Erdogan’s controversial appointment of a rector at the country’s top-ranked university. Anil Akyuz, a graduate student at Istanbul’s Mimar Sinan University, and Silan Delipalta of Istanbul University were jailed for “resisting officials on duty” during this week’s protests, […]
A court in Istanbul sent two university students to jail on Friday over protests against President Recep Erdogan’s controversial appointment of a rector at the country’s top-ranked university.
Anil Akyuz, a graduate student at Istanbul’s Mimar Sinan University, and Silan Delipalta of Istanbul University were jailed for “resisting officials on duty” during this week’s protests, lawyer Ozgur Urfa said.
The suspects were among 94 people detained on Tuesday in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district when police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of peaceful demonstrators.
The court separately issued a travel ban against 21 people for staging a demonstration without permission, state news agency Anadolu reported.
The two arrested students are also trial over earlier student protests they participated in, Urfa said.
“It is an unlawful decision aimed at intimidating the students to end their protests,” Urfa said, adding that he will appeal the ruling in a week.
For more than a month, students and academics have been protesting Erdogan’s appointment of Melih Bulu, who is close to the ruling party, as rector of Istanbul’s Bogazici University.
They demand his resignation and the right to elect their own rector. Since Turkey switched to an executive presidential system in 2018, Erdogan has authority to appoint rectors at state-run universities.
