On Saturday night four other students were arrested in Istanbul for protests against the appointment of an AKP party member as rector of the renowned Boğaziçi University. House arrest was ordered against two others. Five of the people concerned were arrested in their homes on Thursday, and another person a day later. They were taken to the justice building in Çağlayan on Saturday and interrogated by the public prosecutor. The court issued arrest warrants for Necmettin Erdem, Akın Karakuş, Ömer Şengel and Murat Can Demirci. The number of students arrested has increased to eight.

Since the beginning of the year, students and teachers at Boğaziçi University have been protesting against the politically motivated appointment of Melih Bulu as head of the university. The protests are against the authoritarian appointment by Erdoğan through a presidential decree and ultimately against the curtailment of university autonomy.

In addition, Melih Bulu is considered unsuitable. The long-time party member of the AKP was confronted with allegations of plagiarism in his doctoral thesis in 2011. The students and faculty at Boğaziçi University warn that Bulu will harm the world-renowned scientific institution.

Erdoğan is afraid of a new Gezi Park protest

Although Erdoğan's authoritarian decision to appoint Melih Bulu as head of Boğaziçi University has been broadly rejected by the teaching staff and the students, this has not yet led to a atep back. On the contrary, the Turkish President appears willing to crash the protests through massive repression and uses every opportunity to define the students as terrorists. On Friday he said to the demand for the resignation of the rector: "If you have enough courage, you will also demand the resignation of the president." After this declaration a twitterstorm erupted on Twitter with demands for resignation.

Open letter from Boğaziçi Solidarity Initiative to the President

The Boğaziçi Solidarity Initiative published an “open letter to the 12th President”. Among other things, the letter said: “Do not confuse us with unconditional obedience. You are neither our sultan nor are we your subjects. You spoke of courage. We do not enjoy immunity. You, on the other hand, have been hiding behind the armour of immunity for 19 years. You call our LGBTI+ friends perverse. We say LGBTI rights are human rights. You are unlawfully holding in prison the HDP chairmen, journalists and trade unionists. We say that we stand with everyone who shouts the truth without fear."