As reported in this Trends Journal, the Chinese government is taking measures to de-feminize its male population.
Over in Turkey, however, students at Istanbul’s Bogazici University last week protested the appointment of Melih Bulu as the school’s new president over allegations he targeted LGBT freedoms in the past, the Financial Times reported.
The report said the protests at the school started in January and have persisted. About 150 were arrested last week.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave himself the right to name the heads of these universities in 2016, without having to consider objections from students and staff, the report said. Erdogan once said there was no place for LGBT in a “moral” country. He called the protesters terrorists with links to Kurdish militants.
The Associated Press reported that one of Erdogan’s moves was to launch two new departments in Bogazici University, which critics say he will use to employ his loyalists. Bulu has links to his ruling party, the AP reported.
The news wire reported students at the school sent Erdogan a letter that called Bulu’s appointment “petty tricks.”
“Your attempts to pack our university with your own political militants is the symptom of the political crisis you have fallen into,” the letter read.
According to the Global Academic Freedom Index, Turkey gets 9.7 points out of 100, which is among the lowest in the world, according to Modern Diplomacy. Turkey has the same academic freedom as countries such as Syria and Turkmenistan.
Erdogan blamed Ayse Bugra, an emeritus professor at the school, for instigating the protests. The AP reported she is married to a civil society leader who has been in prison on charges of espionage.
Human rights groups have criticized Erdogan’s recent attempt to consolidate power. Last month, Ankara passed a law that grants new controls by the government over nongovernment organizations (NGOs) that threaten any dissent in the country.
Tarik Beyham, the director for Amnesty International in Turkey, told the Financial Times that the legislation allowing the interior ministry to use vague terrorism charges to cease these groups’ activities means these groups could be shut down “without a chance for appeal.”
“It raises the possibility that all rights groups may be abolished in Turkey,” he said.
Erdogan’s attempt to label these student protesters as terrorists seems to be a familiar strategy.
Can Candan, a film studies lecturer, told the FT it is “obvious” Bulu was appointed to the role at the university to follow out instructions by Erdogan’s government.
“This struggle is not just about Bogazici,” he told the paper. “It’s about the whole system of higher education in Turkey. The right to quality, free, independent, higher education—that is what’s at stake.”
TREND FORECAST: As a Top Trend for 2021, the Trends Journal forecast that a “Youth Revolution” would break out in nations across the globe.
As for Turkey, Erdogan has a solid track record of crackdowns on speech and civil rights. And, in 2016, his government convicted thousands after a failed coup attempt.
Mayor of Istanbul from 1994-1998, Prime Minister of Turkey from 2003-2014, and President since 2014, in complete control of the nation, Erdogan will harshly crack down on any movement and/or protest that threatens his leadership.
However, with over 22 percent of its youth unemployed and Turkey being one of the worst-performing emerging markets in 2020, despite harsh crackdowns on dissent, with millions of young people facing bleak futures and with nothing to lose, they will take to the streets and organize new political movements to replace the establishment.
