Far-right nationalists, police attack university students around Turkey

ISTANBUL

Upward of 167 students were detained at the southern province of Adana’s Çukurova University as they sought to stage a commemoration ahead of the third anniversary of the Roboski Massacre. AA Photo

Police and far-right nationalists staged attacks against students at various universities around Turkey on Dec. 25 in the latest violence to hit the country’s institutes of higher learning.

Upward of 167 students were detained at the southern province of Adana’s Çukurova University as they sought to stage a commemoration ahead of the third anniversary of the Roboski Massacre, in which 34 villagers were killed by the Turkish military in Southeast Anatolia.

Nationalist groups attacked the students with rocks and sticks, prompting the latter to attempt to defend themselves. Police subsequently subjected the students to a hail of tear gas, while also charging at those conducting the memorial with batons.

A similar one-two occurred at Ankara’s Gazi University, after students gathered to read a press statement condemning an attack by two men from the far-right “Idealist Hearths” (Ülkü Ocakları) on a woman student last week. During the press statement, however, nationalists punched and kicked students, shouting “Communist dogs, what does the homeland expect from you?” before police and university security guards allegedly came to reinforce the attackers, deploying tear gas and plastic bullets on the students.

A reporter, Semra Turan of the Dicle News Agency (DİHA), suffered injuries to a leg and hand during the attack, while her camera was also damaged, according to news portal sendika.org.

Sixty students were also detained Dec. 25 at Sütçü İmam University in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş after being attacked by police and far-right nationalists following earlier tension stemming from an alleged knife attack by fascist groups. According to DİHA, riot police and far-right elements surrounded a canteen in which Kurdish, leftist and socialist students were eating before officers fired tear gas into the hall. Students inside attempted to defend themselves by erecting barricades, but police subsequently broke windows to enter the facility, detaining 60 students.

There were also similar attacks at İzmir’s Dokuz Eylül University, Istanbul’s Yıldız Technical University and Antalya’s Akdeniz University.