President of Özyeğin University Has Been Forced to Resignation

Gezi Resignation: President of Özyeğin University Prof.Erhan Erkut has been forced to resignation

President of Özyeğin University Prof.Erhan Erkut has been forced to resignation by board of trustees because of his attitude during Gezi Park Resistance.

It has been stated that Prof.Erhan Erkut assigned the university lawyer to help a student under custody to be released, but received pressure for doing so, which led him to resign from his post as of July 1st.

Prof.Erkut sent the following e-mail to his students after his resignation:

"Dear Özyeğin University members,

Together, we laid a very strong foundation for our university by combining your unprecedented support, provided opportunities, my experiences and competences, and your trust for me during my presidence which started at January 1st, 2008. Now our university has mostly completed its foundation process and started its growth process. I'm sure you would appreciate that this process has been as tiring for me, as it was enjoyable.

From now on it's the second episode of our university, which is the episode of completing its growth and institutionalization. You know that since from the begining I was thinking that required university president formation for this episode should be different from foundation episode. Honestly, I always saw myself as "the foundation episode president" and according to my opinion our foundation episode has been completed.

I want to share with you that as of July 1st, I'll be leaving my duty as president of university and hand it over to Prof.Dr.Esra Gençtürk as acting president. I'll continue to act as a faculty member and I'll fully support the new acting president.

There is a work of art that we created together and I'm sure we'll all continue to support its evolution towards the university in our ideals. I thank each of you individualy for the support you provided for me. I believe that you'll provide the same for our new acting president Esra Gençtürk. Good days await our university in the future. We'll keep going together and bring our university to where it deserves.

Respectfully,

Prof.Dr.Erhan Erkut"

He Spoke on The Graduation

Erhan Erkut who is also the founding president of the university said his goodbye to his students with a speech he gave during graduation ceremony.

He Had Released a Declaration

225 Özyeğin University staff including university president Prof.Dr.Erhan Erkut had released a declaration condemning police violence during Gezi Park resistance events.

The declaration is as follows:

" As members of Özyeğin University staff,

• We condemn the unmoderate and violent interventions against those who use their right to protest peacefully; and protest the government perspective intolerant to different thoughts and life styles, which ignores the participation rights of individuals and communities who claim their city.


• For what's happening, We hold all authorities who are charged with protecting civil rights and freedoms, as responsible as the police force who is applying unmoderate violence.


• We urgently invite the main stream media who do not fulfill their duty of informing the people by keeping a blind eye to events, to apologize and fulfill their responsabilities.


• We invite the administrators to stop the demolitions, to give up on projects which received many rightful reactions from people and to stop the unproportionate violence."

http://www.baskahaber.org/2013/06/gezi-istifas-ozyegin-universitesi.html