Students in Turkey’s east protest dormitory conditions

ELAZIĞ

DHA Photo

University students residing in a public dormitory in the eastern province of Elazığ took to the streets late on Oct. 11 to protest the conditions of their dormitory in the wake of a series of protests at dormitories elsewhere in the country.

Students residing in the Ahmet Kabalı Student Dormitory in the Çaydaçıra neighborhood of Elazığ said the food served in the dormitory’s cafeteria was “unbearable” and told Doğan News Agency that they decided to take to the streets in the middle of the night. 

A fight erupted between students and security guards at the dorm when the latter refused to permit the former to bring in food that the students ordered from outside. The other students who witnessed the fight and who were also unhappy with the food served in the cafeteria gathered around the scene and started to stage a protest.  

Police were called to the dormitory due to the rise in tension between the students and security guards. Police prevented further fights from occurring, and the protest ended when lengthy negotiations between the students and the dormitory administration came to an end. The students returned to their rooms a short while later. 

Previously, some 100 residents of a public girls’ dormitory in Muş took to the streets in order to protest the food served in the cafeteria. The students said the food was not sufficient, Doğan News Agency reported on Oct. 7.

“We are always hungry,” said one student, adding that there were problems with hot water in the dormitory. 
“We want the authorities to address these issues. Our protests will continue until the conditions get better,” the student said.

The dormitory administration denied all the accusations. 

Another protest was staged in Antalya, where students residing in a public male dormitory said there were serious gaps in security at the facility. 

“The rooms were still being constructed when we got here. There are no door handles. We are victims,” one student told Doğan News Agency. 

The most recent protest was in Zonguldak, where students residing in a public girls’ dormitory staged a protest in front of their building late on Oct. 10, saying the administration could not ensure their security after two student residents were kidnapped over the last four days.

In a four-hour long demonstration outside the Nesibe Hatun Student Dormitory, which is home to 1,600 students at the Bülent Ecevit University in Zonguldak, the group voiced concerns over safety and security in the area around the dormitory.