The dismissals and appointments made by the rector Naci İnci, who was appointed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on August 21, 2021, continue to draw criticism. In the first week of August, one and a half years before its expiration date, İnci, Boğaziçi University Atatürk Institute Director Prof. Dr. He dismissed Cengiz Kırlı from his post. İnci replaced Kırlı with Prof. Dr. He appointed Sevtap Demirci.
Graduates and students of the Institute reacted to both Kırlı’s dismissal and Demirci’s acceptance of this appointment. Since August, students have reacted with actions and explanations. This time, Boğaziçi students issued a statement to be a symbol on the first lesson day, which will start today. “We are saddened and angry at this appointment, which is against academic requirements and violates the principle of autonomy,” the statement said.
“Authoritarian mentality siege”
In the statement that pointed out that Demirci, who was appointed instead of Kırlı, “contradicted the values of a valuable academic institution to which he has been a member for many years”, the statement said, “Hundreds of educated young people and academics are being beaten by cadres based on partisanship rather than merit and fairness. Similar practices directed at Boğaziçi University are the last link of this massacre. The trustee rector, who dismissed the faculty members who have contributed to this institution for years, did not renew the contracts of these professors and did not let them open their classes, Prof. Dr. We see Cengiz Kırlı’s dismissal from his position with an arbitrary decision from the top down, as one of the interventions against this deep-rooted tradition of Boğaziçi University, which regards only democratically elected administrators as legitimate and oversees democratic participation. Our teacher Prof. Dr. We demand that Cengiz Kırlı be reinstated as soon as possible.”
NOT ACCEPTED
Boğaziçi University Information Technologies Board (BTK) member Prof. Dr. Tuna Tuğcu was suspended from duty for three more months due to the ongoing investigation. Tuğcu was not taken from the gate of Boğaziçi University Alumni Association by security guards yesterday. Sharing those moments on social media, Prof. Dr. Cem Say asked, “How many crimes are there here, let the lawyers calculate?”