SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Learn more.
Results
On June 14, 2023, police forcibly detained five Dokuz Eylül University (DEU) students for organizing an on-campus picnic celebrating pride month. The students are members of Colors of Resistance, a pro-LGBTQ+ student initiative. Police reportedly followed a public bus that students ...
On June 13, 2023, police forcefully detained two Izmir Democracy University students for holding a picnic to celebrate pride month. The students are members of Colors of Resistance, a pro-LGBTQ+ student initiative. Colors of Resistance was setting up their picnic in ...
On June 9, 2023, police detained around 15 Middle East Technical University (METU) students for holding a pride march on campus. The march was intended to be the culmination of Pride Week at METU. The day before the march, on June ...
On February 20, 2023, police detained and assaulted 23 peaceful student protesters during a demonstration against a government decision to shift universities to online learning following major earthquakes on February 6. The District Governor had banned the demonstration in advance, ...
On February 17, 2023, police detained 22 students participating in a demonstration at Dokuz Eylul University over the government’s decision to make university education remote and vacate all state-run university dormitories to accommodate earthquake victims. On February 6, 2023, an earthquake ...
On or around January 9, 2023, Andalou University summarily suspended professor Bülent Yücel for three months for a question he included on a January 9 constitutional law exam. The question asked students to analyze the Turkish President’s power over state institutions, ...
On November 8, 2022, police clashed with students, faculty, and other members of the Middle Eastern Technical University (METU) who sought to participate in a city council hearing about the construction of a road on their university campus. The group of ...
On October 26, 2022, Turkish authorities raided the residence of and detained Şebnem Korur Fincancı, the president of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and a professor of forensic medicine at Istanbul University. Fincancı was charged with spreading terrorist propaganda and ...