Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reverses his controversial decision to close a liberal private university in Istanbul, according to a decree published in the official gazette.
Hundreds of students and lecturers demonstrated earlier Sunday outside the main campus of Istanbul Bilgi University, which has been closed since Friday, to demand its reopening.
Erdogan on Friday ordered its closure in the middle of the school year, in an official decree.
It cited a law allowing for the closure of a private institution if “the expected level of education and training… is insufficient” — a charge rejected by Bilgi students and staff.
“We will stay here until the university reopens its doors,” says student union activist Emir Aydogan, demonstrating at the university on Sunday.
Erdogan, in office since 2003 as prime minister and then president, has been fiercely criticised by rights groups for authoritarian moves against his opponents.
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