Gezi’s ‘woman in red’ faces second internal probe at university within one month

ISTANBUL

After facing an internal investigation over an email sent from her university account, Ceyda Sungur, who became known around the world as the "woman in red” during last year’s Gezi Park protests in Turkey, now faces a faculty investigation for hanging teachers’ union posters calling for a strike.

Sungur, a research assistant at the Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ) who was photographed being sprayed with tear gas by a police officer at the beginning of last year’s Gezi protests, faces an internal investigation opened by İTÜ Architecture Dean Sinan Mert Şener. The investigation centers on claims that she hung posters inside the university campus for two teachers’ unions, Eğitim-Sen and Türk Eğitim-Sen, which called for a strike on Sept. 24, daily Cumhuriyet reported. 

Şener opened the investigation on the grounds that Sungur hung the posters inside the university without authorization.

Sungur was also subjected to an investigation after sending a private email defending a colleague who had been recently fired, criticizing the administration, and calling on the board of the Architecture Faculty to investigate the case. However, the faculty administration responded by launching an investigation into Sungur herself, accusing her of “provoking other research assistants.”