Britain's Young Communist League (YCL) offered support and solidarity to Boğaziçi University students saying their resistance is an inspiration for their own struggle.

The left-wing organisation, which consist of students and young workers issued a statement in support of their counterparts fighting the brutal Erdoğan regime in Turkey.

YCL Student Officer Peter Stoddart said: “Throughout history, student movements have often been at the forefront of campaigning against autocratic regimes. The protests at Boğaziçi University in Turkey this week continue in this trend.”

More than 500 students and protesters have been detained in the past week as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan escalates the oppression, branding them “terrorists” who take their instructions from the mountains - a reference to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Demonstrations have continued despite the oppression which has seen snipers with their sights trained on protesters, allegations of beatings and sexual assault and teargas fired into crowds. 

What started as a protest against the appointment of pro-Erdogan rector Mehli Bulu, a former AKP election candidate, has now grown into a broader anti-government struggle uniting many layers of society in Turkey.

Mr Erdogan has vowed to stop the protests at all costs, insisting he will not allow them to become a new Gezi, a reference to the 2013 demonstrations which nearly toppled the government of which he was prime minister.

Mr Stoddart said: “First and foremost, these protests are crucial in the fight against Erdogan’s continued and unrelenting fight to consolidate power in the hands of the ruling AKP. In addition, for us in Britain, they demonstrate the power and importance of a militant and politicised student movement.” 

“The acts of demonstrators at Boğaziçi this week show us what we need to do to build the British student movement into such a force.”

Last week Britain’s National Union of Students (NUS) sent a message of solidarity to their counterparts in Turkey.

It expressed anger at both Mr Erdoğan and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu at comments made after LGBT activists displayed artwork in a campus protest that depicted rainbow symbols alongside an image of the Kaaba, the building at the centre of the Great Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Islam’s most sacred site.

Twitter limited access to a tweet by Mr Soylu which referred to the protesting students as “LGBT perverts.

NUS President Larissa Kennedy said: “State violence and police brutality are global injustices and our rage and solidarity are with the LGBTQ+ students from Istanbul's Bogazici University who are fighting for liberation at this time.”

On Sunday the Gik-Der Kurdish and Turkish community group announced the launch of a new London Boğazici Solidarity campaign organisation which plans a number of activities to build support for the resistance.