Hundreds of students along with university staff gathered in Gazi University in Turkey’s Ankara on April 30 to protest and collect signatures against the bill that aims to split up 13 universities to establish new ones.
On the third day of the protests, students and academics continued to object the bill, chanting "Gazi is and will remain to be ours."
Though the riot police entered the campus, the students and academics did not end the protest. Even the attempt of provocation by a small fascist group was repelled, and the protest continued.
The students ended the protest only after releasing a press statement, emphasising that they would continue to wage struggle to protect their earned rights until the bill has been drawn back.
On the other hand, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s President and Chairperson of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said that the protests against the bill in question were "ideological".
Calling the rallies against the split-up "abuse", Erdoğan also claimed that the population of the universities to be split up "impaired the quality". He did not, however, mention the quality status of the many universities founded in the AKP rule all over the country.
Erdoğan also stated that the "new universities to be established" would have new campuses away from the city centres.
Also, the Communist Youth of Turkey (TKG), a youth organisation of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), responded to Erdoğan’s claims in short notice.
"If anyone witnessed what Erdoğan said," the TKG stated, "they would see how rightful the students and academics are in protesting the bill."
Saying that Erdoğan had contradictory claims in his statement, the TKG maintained: "It hits AKP Chairman’s nerves that the youth has a worldview, does not obey, and reveals their frames every time."
The TKG had also released a press statement earlier, stating that the main purpose of the bill was to create rentier for the capitalists, and drive students from the city centres where they effectively influence the social fabric. In the statement, the TKG had underlined that the bill would not pass in universities.
