Turkey: Teachers protest against Erdogan-appointed university rector

Teachers and protesters at Istanbul's Bogazici University are protestingagainst what they claim is the politically motivated appointment of a rector at a top Turkish university by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Hundreds of students and about two dozen faculty members say the appointment of Melih Bulu at the leading Turkish school was undemocratic. Such demonstrations are rare and little tolerated inTurkey, especially since a failed coup in 2016.

Students clashed with police on Monday at the entrance to the university and officers used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Police on Tuesday raided 24 homes and detained 17 people including two Bogazici students, the Istanbul governor's office said.

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Faculty members gathered on campus later on Tuesday during the swearing-in of Bulu, who has a doctorate in business management and turned their backs on the rector's building.

They said in a statement Bulu was the first rector appointed from outside a university since a 1980 military coup and part of increasing anti-democratic practices since 2016 when the failed coup prompted Erdogan's government to launch a crackdown against perceived opponents.

Erdogan assumed the power to directly appoint university rectors after surviving a failed 2016 coup, and it is not the first time his choice for Bogazici has caused controversy.

When Professor Mehmed Ozkan was appointed as rector in November 2016, there were tensions and upset from students and academics.

Rectors forTurkey's universities were appointed through elections before July 2016.

In an interview on Haberturk TV, Bulu said he would not resign because his appointment met global standards, and that police stopped non-students from entering campus.

"Bogazici students can protest wherever and however they want," he said.

Bulu added he joined Erdogan's ruling AK Party when it was founded about two decades ago and later applied to run for a parliamentary election.

Several hundred police officers and a handful of trucks with water cannons were sent to the school on Tuesday.

More than a hundred students gathered on campus for a second day and chanted: "Melih Bulu is not our rector" and "Students and teachers are in solidarity".

Turkish Deputy Interior Minister Ismail Catakli criticised the slogans.

Created in 1863, the university was originally known as Robert College and was the first American university founded outside the United States.

It was renamed when the university was handed toTurkeyin 1971. The name reflects the campus location overlooking the Bosphorus river,"Bogazici" in Turkish.

"We cannot accept or remain silent to our police being called murderers," he said, adding some of those detained had links to an outlawed leftist organisation.

Authorities have arrested thousands of academics, lawyers, journalists, civil servants and military members as part of the post-2016 crackdown, which the government says was necessary given threats to the country.

Critics say Erdogan has used the coup attempt as a pretext to quash dissent.