Hundreds Arrested in Student-led Demonstrations in Turkey amid Crackdown on the Opposition

Students protest the government at Middle Eastern Technical University (METU), Ankara campus. Banner reads: "We will not submit to AKP [Justice and Development Party] tyranny! METU students". Photo credit: Evrensel

On March 19, 2025, Istanbul mayor and likely next opposition candidate for president, Ekrem İmamoğlu, was detained on corruption and terrorism charges. On March 23, he was arrested on the corruption charges. His arrest, alongside many others that are accused of belonging to a “crime organization” led by İmamoğlu, has sparked widespread protests around the country.

The Erdoğan government chose to respond to these protests with violence and by declaring a ban on all protest activities in Istanbul from March 19-23. The Turkish government detained thousands and arrested hundreds in the days following İmamoğlu’s arrest. The ban was later extended to March 27. According to the March 26 statements of the Minister of Justice, around 1900 people have been detained over protest activity around the whole country. Based on the most recent reporting, 263 individuals have been arrested on charges of violating assembly and demonstration laws.

University students have been playing a leading role in the demonstrations, which has been met with government attempts to control and repress student speech. According to a lawyer who spoke to BBC Turkish, a significant number of those detained and arrested are university students, some of whom have been detained during dawn raids on their homes after being identified as having participated in the demonstrations. According to the Istanbul Bar Association, at least 20 of those detained are children.

While protesting students come from a wide variety of universities, Middle Eastern Technical University (METU) has been subjected to exceptionally high levels of repression. After being repeatedly blocked-off by police on March 19 and 20, on March 26, METU students were beaten up, tear gassed, and detained on campus grounds after their attempted march. On March 28, police attacked students camped on campus again, using tear gas and plastic bullets. A total of 50 METU students have been arrested across these two days.

Since the earlier days of this period of intensified protest, students have been boycotting classes at their institutions. Universities with boycotts include Istanbul Technical University, Boğaziçi University, METU, Hacettepe University, Ege University, Kocaeli University, and many more.

On March 25, the Education and Science Workers’ Union (Eğitim Sen) representing around 80,000 members, many of whom are faculty members at Turkish universities, joined the students’ boycott movement by announcing that they would be withholding their labor for a day in solidarity. The same day, Istanbul Republican Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation on the members of the central executive committee of the union for calling for an illegal strike and incentivizing others to commit crimes, since protests were “illegal” at that time. In addition, on March 26, Levent Dölek, Eğitim Sen’s workplace representative for Istanbul University was detained and later arrested for participating in a protest outside of the gates of his university.

This governmental crackdown on political and societal opposition comes shortly after İmamoğlu’s university degree was revoked by Istanbul University after government-driven suspicions regarding procedures around his transfer from another institution. Around 20 others’ diplomas were also revoked, among which is that of the current chair of the management department at Galatasaray University.

The state of academic freedom in Turkey is among the worst in the world. According to the Academic Freedom Indexdeveloped by the V-Dem Institute, Turkey has a score of 0.12 out of 1, which makes it the country with the 16th worst level of academic freedom. Since the early 2010s, key measures of academic freedom such as freedom to research and teach, academic expression and institutional autonomy have radically deteriorated under President Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party.

Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW) condemns the violent repression of student protests as part of a society-wide crackdown on the opposition. We further condemn the punishment of academics for engaging in protests. We invite the global community dedicated to upholding academic freedom to join our call.