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. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

Date of Incident: May 23, 2022

Attack Types: Killings, Violence, Disappearances

Institution(s):Antalya Akdeniz University

Region & Country:Western Asia | Turkey

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On May 23, 2022, a group of individuals assaulted a group of Kurdish students who were singing and dancing to Kurdish music at Antalya Akdeniz University.

Video footage shows one of the assailants kicking one of the Kurdish students. The Kurdish students allege that the campus security guards did not intervene to protect the students.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about an apparently ethnically motivated, violent attack on students on campus. State and university authorities have a responsibility to prevent and respond to such attacks, including by investigating and holding perpetrators responsible. In addition to the harm to the immediate victims, such violent attacks on campus undermine core higher education values, including equitable access and academic freedom, and democratic society generally.

Sources:
https://artigercek.com/haberler/antalya-da-kurtce-sarkilar-esliginde-halay-ceken-universitelilere-saldiri
https://susma24.com/antalyada-kurtce-sarki-esliginde-halay-ceken-universite-ogrencilerine-saldiri/
https://www.rudaw.net/turkish/middleeast/turkey/240520223
https://twitter.com/ozgurogrncins07/status/1528811536185188353