Students detained by the police for protesting the aoopointment of AKP's Melih Bulu as a rector to Boğaziçi University, spoke about the violence and pressure they were exposed to.

 

Students who were released by the court the other day, told that they were subjected to strip search, threats of rape, harassment while they were handcuffed from the back. Students underlined that they will continue to fight against all pressures.

 

STRIP SEARCH AND BATTERY

 

One of the students detained by the police, Ferhat Ergen said he was constantly subjected to violence while he was detained. Stating that he was forced to lie face down on the floor, handcuffed from the back for 2 hours while his house was being stormed, said: "They tried to strip search us at the security directorate. We were battered when we rejected the strip search and resisted."

 

PRO-GOVERNMENT MEDIA POINTED US AS TARGETS

 

Underlining that they don't have to be a student at the Boğaziçi to protest an appointed rector, Elif Uçarlı said the AKP media has been distorting the facts. Drawing attention to the fact that the AKP media have been pointing the students who are not Boğaziçi University students as targets, Uçarlı said: "When being pointed as targets, we saw that the houses of the students were raided a day later."

 

'I WAS THREATENED WITH DEATH'

 

Stating that she was insulted and threatened by the police during detention, LGBTI+ individual Havin said she was also threatened with death. Pointing out that she was sexually harassed during strip search, Havin said: "When they take us to the holding cell, some police officers came and threatened me with rape. AKP Gaziantep MP shared our photos on social media and declared us terrorists. They openly exposed us."

 

Gözaltı sürecinde polis tarafından pek çok kez hakaret ve küfre maruz kaldığını ifade eden LGBTİ+ birey Havin, ölüm tehdidi aldığını vurguladı. Çıplak arama sırasında tacize maruz kaldığını belirten Havin, “Nezarethaneye getirildiğimizde polisler yanıma gelerek beni tecavüzle tehdit ettiler. AKP Gaziantep milletvekili de bizim fotoğraflarımızı paylaşıp terörist ilan etti. Alenen bizi teşhir etti” diye konuştu. 

 

WE WERE TORTURED ONE BY ONE 

 

Reminding that they wanted to defend their democratic rights, Kudret Çetinkaya said: "The government raided our homes and detained us, using torture. They tortured us on the way to the hospital and they tortured us at the police station. They tortured us one by one. The pressures can not intimidate us."