Rectors up in arms over YOK bill

Aegean University Rector Professor Ulku Bayindir, speaking for all rectors and academics, said that the law violated the unity in education, and said they would not permit this to happen.

He said they were utilizing their democratic rights to protest against the YOK bill, noting that this law was dividing the people and suspending the principles won by Turkey over the last 80 years. He said, "We will do everything possible to protect and preserve the founding principles of the republic."

At a rally in front of the rector’s building in Middle East Technical University (ODTU), students and academics gathered on Friday, accusing both sides on the YOK debate, the government and the YOK supporters, as trying to subvert universities, calling on the total closure of imam-hatip schools.

Professor Kadir Erdin, in a written statement, said the YOK-government clashes over the last year had ended in an expected way, noting that the government’s commitment to educational reform was linked to political considerations.

Egitim-Sen Union President Alaaddin Dincer said on Friday that the YOK bill had to be vetoed by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and the government should stop insisting on pushing it through Parliament.