Rage Against The Kayyum

What happens when a president appoints an incompetent, fraudulent, underqualified, and partisan rector to the country’s most prestigious university? Months of protest, police brutality, and demonization. Out of hypothesis that’s exactly what happened with Bogazici University students. Undoubtedly, Turkey’s most prestigious university has been the target of President Erdogan. After the referendum of 2016, President Erdogan has gained powers no singular authority should have. Lawfully president Erdogan could assign rectors to universities, meaning the inner democracy and academic hierarchy within the universities has been abolished. He has had this power since the referendum of 2016 and has appointed rectors in the past.

What in the world does Kayyum even mean?

Kayyum is a person that has been appointed by an authority to take one institution under authority’s control. The word itself has unpleasant connotations. Calling the newly appointed rector a Kayyum is a serious accusation and unfortunately, a truthful one.

This is where the not-so-beloved Melih Bulu comes into play. He was appointed by the Reis (Big Brother version of Turkey) as the new rector of Bogazici on January 2, 2021. Ever since his appointment, not only the students but the academic staff have been taking parts in the University protests. Academic staff have been going out to the yard and standing backward towards the rectors building since the 2nd of January. Inevitably, Kayyum seems to be having problems with coordinating and finding people to work with. He wasn’t a part of the Bogazici academic staff before his appointment hence he is not getting the respect he wished to find. His reputation as an academician is also in slumps since there’s undeniable proof of plagiarism in his master thesis and other papers. However, Melih Bulu wasn’t only an academician but also a politician. Being a part of AKP, he was the candidate of Istanbul for the 2015 Parliamentary election. However, these appointments are unheard of since the referendum. What makes this one so outraging?

Why now? and Why Bogazici University?

Bogazici is one of the hardest universities to get into – if not the hardest in Turkey. The best students dream of going to Bogazici and only a few can make it to the final line. Apart from being hard to get in, it is one of the most progressive universities next to ODTU in Turkey. During the early 2000s, Bogazici students protested against the hardcore secularist policy of not letting people with religious attire into government institutions and took part in Gezi protests as well. The very nature of Bogazici rejects bigotry, discrimination, and nepotism. Turkish progressives and LGBTQ+ have been under mass pressure by the government and partisan extremists who are enabled by the ruling party. Bogazici was a haven for progressive people where they could be themselves and be accepted. When the rector was appointed, it tainted this non-discriminatory atmosphere Bogazici stood for. A threat against the much-needed progression of Turkey. Students took a stance against this invasion of their non-discriminatory garden of Eden, and then the protests started. Knowing the history of progressive protests in Turkey, they have accepted a non-violent, non-partisan protest which would not be dragged to anything party related. The first days of protests went as expected. Apart from some tiny instances where the protest was about to be dragged into the far left (communist groups and such), the students kept their stances consistent.

As the days passed, more and more students joined and the amount of police in and around the campus unfortunately increased. Efforts of simmering the protests and making it into something else has increased by the government officials. Then came the biggest public reaction, when an anonymous student put a picture of one mythical character(Shahmaran – A female ruler of the underworld who is half serpent half woman) from an Anatolian myth on top of the Kaaba. Additionally, Pride flags had been placed to all of the four sides of the picture. To clarify the intent of this artwork, the anonymous student gave a description. In the description, it says ‘’ The serpent, which is identified with the original idea of sin and is one of the symbols of evil in the Anatolian geography, and the Shahmaran figure, which is a combination of female identity that has been oppressed from the past to the present, is strangely loved and praised in Anatolia. I wanted to encourage this secret and deep struggle of Anatolian women one step further.’’ The outrage of conservatives resulted in authorities making arrests of people that had nothing to do with them. Following the arrests, student protests got even bigger momentum.

On February 1st , police stormed the South Campus and intervened in the students' protests. Earlier that day, the students had gathered in front of the campus for the protest. Police hindered the protest while also preventing the students inside the South Campus from joining their friends outside. During that time the Minister of internal affairs, Suleyman Soylu, tweeted that Turkey is not a place where ‘perverted’ LGBTQ people are welcomed. Twitter has since deleted the tweet due to its hateful and discriminatory content. With the momentum, the protests have gained popularity however many students have been detained. On the 2nd of February, the protest was carried into the Kadikoy district of Istanbul, in which the most brutal police intervention occurred with around 104 detainments. The public showed its discontent with authorities either with being out trying to protest as peacefully as possible or from their balconies and windows, hitting cutlery and pans together making noise as it was done during Gezi Protests.

During these protests, the opposition leaders had to take incredibly careful steps not to upset anyone. The opposition knows that if they support what is going on fully, they will be losing much needed conservative votes as they know and predict the end of AKP is close. Presidents of Municipalities of Istanbul and Ankara (which by the way was a huge win for the opposition since they have not held these big cities in their hands for 20+years) called the rector to resign and end this controversy. Furthermore, A widely known mob leader has recently publicly told the Kayyum not to resign with the “will of these terrorists". Demonization and disregard for the students have been pumped up by the government by calling them terrorists, angry lesbians, and traitors.

Conclusion

The current state of the ruling party – despite their efforts of sweeping the hard truth under the rug of patriotism – cannot detain its reputation anymore with name-calling and disregarding anyone who disagrees with them. All I see is panic. Erdogan had one of his most comfortable four years in reign ever since the Trump administration was in charge. He didn’t need to care for democracy as long as their good friend Trump was in charge. It’s not surprising to hear that Trump had good relations with right-wing authoritarian governments. Fidesz in Hungary, PiS in Poland, and AKP in Turkey. However, now the Biden administration is in charge. Things are going to be different now since the Biden administration is a well-known neo-liberal administration and won't abide by illiberal democracies unless they are filthy rich. The nostalgia of Obama will push through and force Erdogan to be more democratic. Talks of reform are on the table, and even a space program has been announced by Erdogan. These protests are not going to end in vain. The end is near, I am personally angry at the opposition for being opportunistic and not supporting the protests to the end. It shows that the opposition isn't so different when it comes to populism. Because of their silence and inaction, young people of this country feel disappointed and lonely once again. To sum it up, the Turkish youth is still there, they long for freedom and progression. These young people are looking for a reason, a little light of hope to not leave the country. The fear tactics of the ruling party can’t contain their reputation and they know they can't get public support from younger generations. When ordinary people are accused of being terrorists when the state is against its citizens everyone knows the time of the government is coming to an end. People know the notions of change and promises of better days do not represent reality anymore. They panic as they are getting stuck deeper into the mud.