Erdogan-appointed rector accused of plagiarism

Students at the Bosphorus University in the city of Istanbul clashed with Turkish police forces at the expense of the new rector appointed by President Erdogan. 

The police dispersed the students with tear gas and rubber bullets, and temporarily detained about twenty of them. 

Erdogan, as president of the republic, has the right to appoint the rectors of the universities, but the students criticized the decision to appoint Melih Bulut as the new rector because he belongs to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). 

The students denounced that this is a step to restrict academic freedoms as it has happened in other universities where rectors close to the AKP have been appointed. “We do not accept it as it clearly violates academic freedom and scientific autonomy as well as the democratic values of our university," they said in a statement shared on social media. 

The appointment was “yet another case of many ongoing anti-democratic practices since 2016,” they said, referring to a large-scale crackdown since a failed coup five years ago.

The students hung a sign on the door of the Rectorate building saying: "This building was sealed by the Bosphorus students due to the appointment of Melih Bulut from the AKP as the Rector", and chanted "AKP, take your hands off our university". The student protest was joined by several academics of the university who are also critical of the decision of the Turkish president. 

The professors of the university offered a statement in which they warned that "for the first time after the military dictatorship of the 1980s, an external rector was appointed" to the university. 

"We do not accept it as it clearly violates academic freedom and scientific autonomy as well as the democratic values of our university," they said, recalling that in 2012 university institutions agreed that all academic administrators would be determined by election rather than appointment, even if someone from the university itself was appointed.

Bulu’s appointment was criticized as being more political than academic, because he is a close ally of Turkish President Erdogan. Critics also accused him of plagiarism in his published articles and PhD thesis. Bulu has a PhD in business management. During this week’s protests, his 2003 thesis suddenly disappeared from a Turkish repository site.