66,000 students relocated after Turkish government shut down 15 universities over coup charges

Turkish government has closed down 15 universities across the country over their alleged links to the Gulen movement since last summer, leading 66,000 students to look for somewhere else to continue their education.

The government shuttered under post-coup emergency rule Fatih University, Murat Hudavendigar University and Suleyman Sah University in Istanbul, Orhan Gazi University in Bursa, Gediz University, Izmir University and Sifa University in Izmir, Altin Koza University and Turgut Ozal University in Ankara, Mevlana University in Konya, Canik Basari University in Samsun, Melik Sah University in Kayseri, Kanuni University in Adana, Zirve University in Gaziantep and Selahattin Eyyubi University in Diyarbakir.

Some 66,000 students registered to those universities were left to enroll in other universities, Gazete Duvar online news portal said.

Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government along with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement despite the latter’s denials of involvement.

With hundreds of institutions including universities seized, more than 120,000 people have been detained over alleged or real links to the movement so far.

Published on Turkey Purge, 11 June 2017, Sunday