Students explain their motive to CHP leader

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Hundreds of students protested PM Erdoğan at ODTÜ on Dec 18. AA photo

Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has met with a group of students from Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ), which has become the subject of heated debate following police violence during the premier’s visit there last month.

Students told Kılıçdaroğlu that they were originally planning to stage a demonstration to protest a new draft bill on the Higher Education Board (YÖK) and the deployment of Patriot missiles along Turkey’s southern border during Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Dec. 18, 2012, visit to the campus, but the police used disproportionate force even before the demonstration could start.

ODTÜ students denied the claims of iron balls and Molotov cocktails during their meeting with Kılıçdaroğlu, which took place at the CHP headquarters on Dec. 31, 2012.