Among the women students who participated in the Women’s Day celebrations were Gamze Toprak and Hivda Selen, who had been confined indoors due to their house-arrest. They defied the police order and came to the rally with their electronic tracking devices. There, they broke the electronic bracelets and took their chains off, literally.
It was only a month or two ago that a protest started at one of the most prestigious universities in Istanbul, Turkey, when the President appointed a chancellor to the school. Known for its democratic tradition and electing the faculty’s rector, the students and the faculty protested and shut the school against this top-down appointment.
The newly appointed rector is a loyalist to President Erdoğan and is a member of his party, the AKP. He was caught plagiarizing in his academic publications and dissertation thesis. However, in a country where loyalties come before merit, Erdoğan is not much concerned about the quality of education at this prestigious university.
When the student protests started, the new rector and the government called the police and even planted sharpshooters on neighboring buildings’ roofs against peacefully gathering students.
Police started detaining, beating, and attacking the students to break the academic boycott. Police raided the students’ homes, tearing down walls and breaking down the doors instead of ringing the bell.
The government-appointed loyal judges later arrested some students with no evidence of any crime. Some students received electronic bracelets when they received house arrests.
On March 8th, when women protested the escalating attacks against women and the government’s moving towards sharia law, the women students of Boğaziçi also participated.
Among the women students who participated in the Women’s Day celebrations were Gamze Toprak and Hivda Selen, who had been confined indoors due to their house-arrest. They defied the police order and came to the rally with their electronic tracking devices. There, they broke the electronic bracelets and took their chains off, literally.
Gamze Toprak is a member of the Socialist Women’s Assemblies. Hivda Selen is a member of the Free Young Women organization.
These women carried signs reading, “I do not recognize house-arrest” and “Freedom to all women who are under house-arrest.” Then they broke their electronic ankle bracelets as a gesture of breaking from the chains of slavery.
Sendika.org News (MB)
