"International Student Movement"

Students Clash with Riot Police in Turkey

Yesterday (Jan.27th) did not just see attacks on protesting students in San Juan (Puerto Rico), but also in Ankara and Istanbul (Turkey).

To better understand what the protests are about the following report was sent to the ISM mailing list:

This video is from a demonstration of "Kolektifler", which means "collectives" in Turkish. They were exposed to police violence on the same day in İstanbul and Ankara. This is their webpage; unfortunately just in Turkish.

Let me provide some brief information about this group. Kolektifler is the most active student group in Turkey nowadays. It is a type of framework organisation. Students from different parties/organs (or just independent students) are getting organised under this group. Their agenda generally focuses on university problems; but they are also reacting to topics related to general politics. The issues in the videos, for example, are directly related to the Turkish president and his party's policies.

You may heard of the "egg-act" happened few weeks ago. They threw eggs at some parliamentarians and ministers. Those actions made them more visible. In this context, Kolektifler is doing an important job. They are provoking the debate on university problems. The students' problems and their reactions had not been present on the public agenda for a long time. Now, especially after the egg-acts, problems and demonstrations are more visible.

Though the positive comments above, it is hard to say that the student movement in Turkey is up-rising. As I said, their representation steps up, but quantitative participation is not enough yet. In other words, not the movements or actions but public opinion against the government may be up-rising. So, we don't know what's going to happen then. Neo-liberal governmental policies are being applied to all areas including the education system. Meanwhile, reactions are emerging slowly. To sum up, it deserves to be follow.

Lastly, I don't think the student movements in Turkey can be compared with the rebellions in the middle-east (e.g. Tunisia and Egypt). We are so far from this point.

P.S.  By the way, I should highlight that Kolektifler is not the only group in action, of course. Just in this case here it is related to them.