Erdoğan appoints six new university rectors

Turkish president Erdoğan is once again overriding academic autonomy and appointing six new university rectors. In addition, the president extended the term of office of the AKP propagandist Hatipoğlu as university rector.

Following the appointment of Melih Bulu as rector of Boğaziçi University in January, president Erdoğan's is now continuing his attack on academic autonomy by appointing six new rectors in universities in Turkey and North Kurdistan. Bartın University, Bayburt University, Çankırı Karatekin University, Iğdır University, Ibn Haldun University and Izmir Demokrasi University are the institutions affected affected.

Erdoğan also extended the term of office of the government propagandist Prof. Nihat Hatipoğlu, who among other things works as a columnist for the newspaper Sabah, as rector of the University for "Islamic Science and Technology" in Antep.

During the state of emergency imposed after the attempted coup in July 2016, the Council of Ministers in October 2016, with Legislative Decree 2547, abolished the elections of rectors at universities and authorized the president to appoint them. Erdoğan's appointment of Prof. Melih Bulu as rector of Boğaziçi University at the beginning of the year sparked massive protests among students and academics.

Universities used to hold elections and the president then selected one of the three candidates who received the highest number of votes.