'23 students killed, hundreds battered in Turkey in five years'

A recent report by Turkey's Human Rights Foundation (TİHV) revealed that 23 students were killed during protests and demonstrations in Turkey between 2015 and 2019, while 3,102 experienced human rights violations. A total of 720 students were injured during demonstrations in the same period of time.

Wednesday April 14 2021 01:27 pm

Duvar English

A total of 3,102 students experienced human rights violations in Turkey between 2015 and 2019, while 23 were killed during demonstrations or protests they had attended, a report by Turkey's Human Rights Foundation (TİHV) revealed.

Some 2,077 students were detained by police during demonstrations between 2015 and 2019, and 203 were arrested while 152 students were sentenced to a total of 506 years and one month in prison.

A shocking 720 students were injured during demonstrations in the same period of time, while some 252 of these injuries were inflicted during protests that took place on university campuses.

Some 37 percent of rights violations against students consisted of breaches of the right to peaceful demonstrations, while 14 were violations of the freedom of expression.

Ankara University, Istanbul University, Ege University, Middle Eastern Technical University (ODTÜ) and Akdeniz University became the top locations for the rights violations, while Ankara saw the largest number of rights violations against students.

Most recently, Turkish law enforcement has been conducting a crackdown on the Boğaziçi University community for their protest of the president's appointment of a party member as rector of their school.

Hundreds of students were detained during the protests, dozens suffered from police violence and dozens face prosecution for their protest.