ISTANBUL, (MILLAT+APP/AFP) – The direct
appointment of university rectors by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since July’s failed coup has stirred up tensions on campus and prompted claims of political interference in the education sector.
The state-run Bosphorus University in Istanbul is one of the most
prestigious in the country. With its green lawns reminiscent of the Ivy League or Oxbridge, it is the traditional starting point for the Turkish elite.
But beneath the gilded surface, tensions are simmering after Erdogan
this month appointed Professor Mehmed Ozkan in place of the popular Gulay
Barbarosoglu as the university rector.
He made the appointment under a measure allowed by the state of
emergency which was imposed by the government following the failed bid by a rogue army faction to oust him.
Elections for rectors in Turkey’s 181 universities — 111 of them
state-run — were suspended after the July 15 coup, with Erdogan picking winners from a pool of candidates selected by the education authority YOK.
If Erdogan doesn’t pick one of the candidates proposed by YOK within
a month, he can choose the rector directly.
– ‘Shocked and frustrated’-
===========================
Outgoing rector Barbarosoglu won 86 percent of the vote among
Bosphorus University academics in the July 12 election, held just three days before the coup.
Ozkan, an academic at the university’s biomedical engineering
department and brother of a ruling party MP, did not run in the race.
After Ozkan’s appointment, Barbarosoglu said she was stepping down
from her academic career.
“I bid farewell to our university where I have contributed for over
40 years at various levels, as student, academic and administrator, and finalise my academic career.”
The government has defended the new system, with Deputy Prime
Minister Numan Kurtulmus saying that such elections had polarised universities.
“We know how much that harmed universities,” he said, expressing hope
that the new rules would not lead to hostility among academic staff.
Academics and students, however, slammed the appointment as a blow to
the university’s autonomy.
“Am I worried? Very much. Students are also shocked and frustrated,”
an associate professor at the university told AFP on condition of anonymity.