Pelin İKTÜEREN / Heybet GÜNEŞ - JINHA

İZMİR / WAN – The academicians criticised the current legislation and said ‘Don’t touch my student’. As Prof. Dr. Nilgün Toker Kılınç states “I believe that Turkey is exactly experiencing the all conditions of liberal despotism. Therefore, I think they cannot tolerate any different voice”, Prof. Dr. Yüksel Akkaya pointed out that in a free, democratic country based on rule of law, the place where students should be is the classroom but prison.  

Yüzüncü Yıl University Department of Chemical Engineer Prof. Dr. Nahit Aktaş stated that in Turkey law works based on an individual, which makes students get damaged. He pointed out that he cannot understand how it is considered as a crime to wear a poshu scarf, “Although I do not know the details of the case, I could not accept that one can be declared as a criminal, jugded and otherized due to their clothes only representing their race. For many years, the students, who express their ideas in a free way and want to live based on this but who are obliged to study on foreign countries due to the current system, are our bleeding wound ” he said. Stating that no other countries have such law, he emphasized that law should be global but individualistic. To him, it is normal to exist different ideas among people, “Due to the different ideas, universities should not be the place where political conflicts and quarrels  occur over the youth” said Nahit.

 ‘The place of my student is classroom but prison’

The Dean of Yüzüncü Yıl University Department of Economics and Administrative Sciences Prof. Dr. Yüksel Akkaya stated that the place of the students are not the prison but classroom in a free, democratic countries based on rule of law. He also stated “Unfortunately , in recent years , a large number of students have been deprived from their education due to the reasons which in fact cannot be the issue of penal law. When the content and scope of penalty is extented, this situation spontaneously come up. Therefore, in order to open the way of freedom and democracy, penal law should be reviewed again.”    

 ‘Don’t touch my student’

Ege University Faculty of Arts the head of the Department of Philosophy Prof. Dr. Nilgün Toker Kılınç pointed out that the violence against the students is getting increased, stating “I believe that Turkey is exactly experiecing all conditions of liberal despotism. Therefore, it cannot tolerate any different voice. Mainly, there is an attack against the students and preventing them being student. Being tried of the students means that their rights of being student , making opposition and  thinking are violated. ” She emphasized the importance of “Don’t touch my student”  campaign, “In order to make them not to touch our students, I guess instructors should be aware that universities are universities both with the students and instructors. Or we should understand that the students are the only reason of why we are at universities. Another point is that it should be understood that here is university. I believe that until the university constructs its own free judgement, we should acknowledge that we cannot be a real university ” said Nilgün.

 ‘They try to restrain our students’

Ege University Communication Faculty of Radio TV Cinema Department Asist. Prof. Dr. Hilmi Maktav stated “They want to punish our students. They want to put them in prison, control and make them annoyed. To me, they should listen to them instead of punishing”. Ege University Communication Faculty of Department of Journalism Dr. Gökçen Başaran İnce said “We say ‘Don’t touch our student ’ in time that all ways of democratic politics for our students are chocked,  and they are assimilated by various assimilation policies such as gas, cosh and bomb”.

Photo: Pelin İKTÜEREN – Heybet GÜNEŞ

Translater: Canan UÇAR