The speech to be given at the Boğaziçi Leadership Summit by Selin Sayek Böke, the vice-chair of the main opposition People’s Republican Party (CHP), was banned by the Boğaziçi University, while the conference on "No to Violence against Women" participated by Aylin Nazlıaka, independent deputy of Ankara, has been also blocked by the Bilgi University administration.
It was informed that the main opposition CHP’s Selin Sayek Böke’s speech in Boğaziçi Leadership Summit to be organised by Boğaziçi University Business and Economy Club on March 18-19, has been cancelled by the university administration.
‘THEY FEAR EVERY KIND OF THOUGHT’
Speaking to the daily Hürriyet about the issue, Böke stated that "I excitedly accepted the invitation by the university that vitalize the youth to build the future and pave the way for a background to produce ideas as a former academician and a person believing the politics need to be changed. Yet, it was stated by the rectorate that it is better not to attend to the conference. That’s why we cannot meet. We are in a period when we need to talk to each other a lot. This cancellation shows that they fear every kind of thought. The preclusion to a speech of an academician or politician by thinking about what he/she will talk about is a concrete indicator about how they perceive liberties…Preventing these kinds of meetings cannot be an obstacle to the creation of an enlightened future. The free thought moves itself out of the buildings, and the grounds that the universities hinder the free thought are confined to remain as a shame story."
BAN ON NAZLIAKA’S SPEECH AT ISTANBUL BILGI UNIVERSITY
The conference on "No to Violence against Women" participated by Aylin Nazlıaka, independent deputy of Ankara, has been also blocked by the Bilgi University administration. Nazlıaka, who visited the university campus at the invitation of the Bilgi University students, learnt that the rector of the university had cancelled the panel in the last minute. Nazlıaka stated that the Rector of the Bilgi University Prof. Dr. Ege Yazgan called her and apologized by saying, "there’s a lot of pressure on me".
‘THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO RIGHT TO SAY THAT ‘EUROPE DOES NOT LET US TO SPEAK’
Regarding the issue, Nazlıaka said that "Universities are the home of science, not of violence and repressions. Those who devote themselves to prevent our speeches at salons, conferences, squares and universities do not have the right to say ‘Europe does not let us to speak’. Anyone cannot hold a candle to the ruling Justice and Development Party in respect of playing the victim. The same victims are doing their best to cut down our voice when we don’t suit their book. What our country needs is a democratic environment based on freedom of expression for every individual, not a tyrannizer and one-man system."
