The protests continue in İstanbul, Eskişehir and Ankara after 330 academics were expelled from Turkish universities with a state of emergency decree.
The academics were among some 4,500 civil servants that were sacked on February 7 under the state of emergency declared following the failed coup attempt in July.
The expulsion of the academics by AKP government draws reactions from the opposition, academics and students.
Private security forces have attacked a group that gathered to protest against the expulsion at the Anadolu University in the northwestern province of Eskişehir on January 15.
Academics and students were first threatened by police, and they were attacked by the private security of the university. Academics then continued to protest expulsion visiting staff in faculties.
RECTOR DENIED HIS RESPONSIBILITY
Theatre Department of Ankara University students continue to boycott the lectures. Only four academics are left in the department after the decree. Students protested the AKP government and the rector of Ankara University.
Higher Education Institution (YÖK) had declared that the lists of academics to be exempted from public service via state of emergency decree decrees were determined by the universities themselves. However, on Tuesday, Erkan İbiş, rector of Ankara University, claimed during meetings that the expulsions were executed without his knowledge.
Academics and students of Marmara University, in İstanbul, gathered at the campus. Utku Uraz Aydın, one of the expelled academics, said that the government gets benefits of the state of emergency and bans strikes of workers with the decrees, which are also used to dismiss academics.
In Middle East Technical University (METU), academics, administrative staff, and students protested expulsions, reading a statement. State of emergency decrees aim to destroy the universities of Turkey. Neither the universities nor the Higher Education Board [YÖK] accepted the responsibility," the statement read. Indicating that this process gives irrevocable damage to the scientific wealth of the country, METU members demanded an urgent termination of the process and compensation of the damage; including the resignation of the responsible authority. The members announced their solidarity with the academics.
