Istanbul medical faculty dean dismissed after visit by presidential candidate İnce
ISTANBUL
The dean of Istanbul’s Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine was dismissed from his post on May 25 after visit in support from Muharrem İnce, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP).
Alaattin Duran was dismissed from his post upon instructions from the Turkish Higher Education Board (YÖK).
Saying farewell to his colleagues and students on May 25 after his dismissal, Duran said he had received an order to not allow İnce to enter the faculty before the latter’s visit.
The dismissal was announced by CHP deputy Ali Şeker via his official social media account.
“The dean was dismissed by the rectorship of the faculty upon an instruction of YÖK because he allowed İnce to enter the faculty building,” Şeker wrote.
İnce also criticized the dismissal of Duran.
“The rule that has divided Istanbul University has now dismissed the dean of Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine. [Such examples] are why I am a [presidential] candidate,” he wrote.
“After June 24, academic freedom and autonomous universities will come to this country. After June 24, university administrations, rectors and deans will be determined not by one man but by the universities themselves,” İnce added.
During his May 24 visit to Cerrahpaşa, İnce had vowed to halt a recent government move to split up 13 major Turkish universities.
“They have divided the nation, broken hearts, and are now trying to divide universities. But we will unite the nation, hearts and universities,” he said.
Students and academics across Turkey have in recent weeks been protesting a recently approved bill that includes controversial measures to split up the faculties of Istanbul University, Turkey’s oldest institution of higher education.
The bill, approved by parliament on May 3, aims to transfer a number of Istanbul University faculties to a new to-be-founded university. The Cerrahpaşa School of Medicine will be among the faculties moved.
