Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Erdogan Has Left-Wing University Students from Istanbul Arrested

Students at the Boğaziçi University in Istanbul were protesting against an action by Islamist students in support of the Turkish army’s war in Afrin. Now, the protestors have been arrested by police. The country’s president has vowed that they will be expelled because they are “terrorists”.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 25, 2018
Facebook Twitter Share

“These are terrorist youths!” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this about left-wing students at the prestigious Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. He was speaking at a congress of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Saturday.

Last Monday, around 20 Islamist students gathered at Boğaziçi University to celebrate the victory of the Turkish army in the Syrian province of Afrin. They were handing out sweets (Lokum, also known as “Turkish delight”) to passers-by.

Anti-war and left-wing students organized a peaceful counter protest. Around 25 students held up a banner that read: “There is nothing to celebrate about war and occupation!”

Immediately, a witch-hunt against the activists began in social media, soon taken up by the mass media. The university rector defended the “free speech” of the Islamist students, while calling the anti-war activists “terrorists” – without any further explanation. This is typical in Erdogan’s Turkey: Any opposition to the government is characterized as “terrorist”. The AKP is trying to change the university law to make it easier to expel students from the university and silence criticism.

On Thursday morning, six students were arrested by the police in their homes. By noon that day, students had gathered at Boğaziçi University to protest against the repression. Here, seven more people were detained by the police. Of the 13 arrested on Thursday, 7 were released the same day and 3 more on Friday. But a further activist was detained on Friday. So at the moment, four students remain in prison.

Most of the activists are from the Marksist Fikir Toplulukları (Community for Marxist Ideas, MFT) and the Sosyalist Emekçiler Partisi (Socialist Labourer’s Party, SEP), Trotskyist organizations with a long tradition at the Istanbul university.

The President has personally denounced the arrested students. “God-fearing, national and local youth were distributing Turkish delight for Afrin,” Erdogan said at the AKP congress in Samsun, according to the news site Ahval. Then, “those Communist, traitor-to-the-nation youth attempted to break up the stall. They are terrorist youths.” Erdogan promised to expel left-wing students from the university. “We will not allow them the right to study. Universities cannot raise terrorist youths.”

Erdogan had previously declared that Boğaziçi University does not reflect “Turkish values”. Despite increasing repression by the Erdogan government against academic freedoms, there is still a strong left-wing movement at Boğaziçi. Erdogan is now using pro-war propaganda and police repression to try to break the student movement there.

We express our complete solidarity with the arrested students and demand their immediate release. We support their struggle against Erdogan’s authoritarian government and the war against the Kurds and other peoples in Afrin.

Facebook Twitter Share

Nathaniel Flakin

Nathaniel is a freelance journalist and historian from Berlin. He is on the editorial board of Left Voice and our German sister site Klasse Gegen Klasse. Nathaniel, also known by the nickname Wladek, has written a biography of Martin Monath, a Trotskyist resistance fighter in France during World War II, which has appeared in German, in English, and in French. He is on the autism spectrum.

Instagram

Middle East-Africa

A woman tries to recover some of her possessions from her home which was damaged by an earthquake in the village of Tafeghaghte, near Marrakech, Morocco, Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. Rescue crews expanded their efforts on Monday as the earthquake's death toll continued to climb to more than 2,400 and displaced people worried about where to find shelter.

Earthquake in Morocco: Government and European Imperialism to Blame for Rising Death Toll

The death toll from Friday’s earthquake in Morocco continues to grow as some areas have yet to receive aid. This is a consequence of the subordination of the Moroccan regime to European imperialism and the brutal plundering of the country's resources.

Roberto Bordón

September 13, 2023

Biden’s Iran Policies Are a Pitch that He’s Imperialism’s Best Bet

Biden is simultaneously advancing negotiations with Iran and deploying thousands of U.S. troops to the Persian Gulf. Behind both moves are pressures on Biden to contain Iran and demonstrate that he’s U.S. imperialism’s best bet against China’s advance in the Middle East.

Sam Carliner

August 23, 2023
People in Niger stand atop a building, waving the Niger flag, following a coup.

Coup in Niger Shows France’s Imperialist Decline

The coup in Niger shows that while French imperialism is in retreat, Chinese and Russian influence is growing in the region.

Claudia Cinatti

August 7, 2023

Netanyahu and His Ultra-Right Coalition Pass First Judicial Reform Despite Wide Resistance

The Israeli Knesset passed a law for judicial overhaul despite massive mobilizations that have been happening for months. What these mobilizations miss, however, is solidarity with Palestinians.

Mirta Pacheco

July 27, 2023

MOST RECENT

President Biden visits striking UAW workers in Michigan.

Biden’s Picket Line Visit Doesn’t Mean He Is On Our Side

President Biden’s visit to the UAW picket line shows the strength of the strike — and why it should remain independent from him and the Democrats.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

September 27, 2023

Toward a Revolutionary Socialist Network

In this article Warren Montag and Joseph Serrano respond to our call for a network for a working-class party for socialism. 

Warren Montag

September 27, 2023

Scabs Will Not Pass: Defend the UAW Strike With Organized Grassroots Power

The Big Three are escalating their use of scabs. The rank and file are fighting back.

Jason Koslowski

September 27, 2023

China’s Rise, ‘Diminished Dependency,’ and Imperialism in Times of World Disorder

In this broad-ranging interview, originally published in LINKS, Trotskyist Fraction member Esteban Mercatante discusses how recent global shifts in processes of capital accumulation have contributed to China’s rise, the new (and old) mechanisms big powers use to plunder the Global South, and its implications for anti-imperialist and working-class struggles today.

Esteban Mercatante

September 22, 2023