Ruling AKP moves to change names of a university and a district

ANKARA

The name of Nevşehir University will be changed to ‘Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli University.’

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) continues to act on its “democratization package,” with two more moves checked on its list, by changing the names of a university and a district. 

According to a bill signed by three Nevşehir deputies and two Siirt deputies of the AKP, the name of Nevşehir University will be changed to “Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli University,” and the name of the Aydınlar district in the Siirt province will be changed to Tillo, its former name. Both changes were previously announced by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sept. 30. 

The bill was submitted to the Parliament Speaker’s Office on Oct. 9 by the AKP’s parliamentary group, as a sign that the group has internalized the “democratization package,” a set of reforms. 

The rationale of the bill was provided as thereby, the name of a great figure, is given to a university in Nevşehir where his tomb is located, after enumerating similar examples of naming universities after important figures. Not mentioned in the rationale, Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli is known to be an esteemed figure for the Alevi community.

The bill rationalized the change from Aydınlar to Tillo as “It is a known fact that Siirt’s Aydınlar district is known as ‘Tillo’,” while adding the name Aydınlar was not accepted in the country in the world, and it played a negative role in the promotion and development of the district. “By changing the district’s name with the proposal, it is aimed to give back its old, accepted name,” the bill stated.