Appointed to Boğaziçi University as rector by President Erdoğan and being protested by academics and students for about a month, Melih Bulu could still not find academic personnel to work with him. After turning the university into a police station, Bulu shut down the LGBTI+ Studies Candidate Club within the university as his first action. The decision was announced by Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun through a post on Twitter. Altun made the announcement after 159 students were detained and showed the reason for the protests as the shut-down of this club – which caused reactions on social media on the incidents trying to be manipulated. The official letter, which was signed by Bulu and sent to the authorities for the shut-down, referred to the investigation in which two students were arrested and were later released with house imprisonment decrees against them. “It was decided for the candidacy status of the LGBTI+ Studies Candidate Club to be revoked due to the protests and unpermitted events organised based on the related investigations,” the letter stated.
02.02.2020
bianet.org