Looks like Boğaziçi Protests might be Gezi V 2.0 if everything goes in it's current course. So, let's discuss the event in this specific thread.
Some Back Ground info.
Background
Melih Bulu, who has ties to the ruling
AKP, was appointed as rector with a presidential decree on 2 January 2021. Faculty members stated that this was the first rector chosen outside a university since the
1980 coup d'état. The action was seen by students as a political movement and part of anti-democratic practices since the
2016 coup d'état attempt.
Protests
Hundreds of people participated in the protests on 4 January 2021. Some protesters regarded the appointment as the violation of "academic freedom and scientific autonomy, as well as the democratic values" of the university. Demonstrators also shouted slogans such as "Melih Bulu is not our rector" and "We don't want a state-appointed rector."
One of university's buildings was captured by students who were able to enter the campus. Later, protesters clashed with the police as they tried to break a
barricade in front of university entry. Security forces used
pepper spray to disperse the demonstrators. Two students were detained in the course of protests. In the following days 37 students were arrested. The protests occurred on both the European and Asian side of Istanbul, with thousands of people joining. In the following days the protests continued on the campus. Many other Turkish universities and universities from around the world expressed solidarity. 23 days after the nomination of Bulu, still no academic from the university agreed of working together with Bulu as a vice-rector. Also the protests of the students continued. Every day academics of the university protest in front of the rector-hall. Students did an
LGBT pride, to target homophobic statements of Bulu.
Due to the fact that Erdoğan blamed the students of being not creative enough, the students called for sending artwork to the campus. In the following days than 500 artworks from more than 150 artists arrived at the campus and are exhibited there in the Resistance Exhibition. The presidency of the univerity tried to close the space in front of its building, which was ignored by the students. Some art got stolen on the campus by unknown people. On the 28th of January security guards attacked a tent of the students and broke it. The students reacted with further protests to that. In the night of the 29th of January 2021 four students were detained by the police, under them three organizers of the exhibition. The ministry of Interior
Süleyman Soylu announced in public that ''four LGBT perverts'' were detained.
On the 1st of February 2021 the police blocked again the gate of the south campus to prevent a demonstration. Water Cannons, barricades and at least one sniper was installed. Several Students were detained. Also in
Izmir numberous people were detained. Later the police stormed the campus in the night. In total 159 people were detained. On the following day several people were detained in
Ankara. The Mikroblogging-Service
Twitter blocked a tweet of Süleyman Soylu, where he called LGBT people again ''perverts''.
Reactions
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that "a routine appointment" was "being used to provoke the universities."
MHP chairman
Devlet Bahçeli stated in his written statement that the rector was appointed by legal means and the issue was closed. Bahçeli added that the protesters should not "strain their chances" and "not get caught up in anarchist projects", describing the protests "a conspiracy that needs to be crushed."
The mayor of Istanbul,
Ekrem İmamoğlu from the left-wing main opposition party
CHP, supported the protests.
Canan Kaftancıoğlu, the chairwoman of the CHP branch in İstanbul also spoke in solidarity with the protest and was named by Erdoğan "a terrorist of the
Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front." This led to a criminal complaint against the president by Kaftancıoğlu.
en.wikipedia.org
Personal note: Boğaziçi is one of the oldest university in Turkey dating back to 1863 and arguably it's the best university in Turkey.