Turkish police on Friday detained six students following a scuffle during a concert at Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) in Ankara, Turkish Minute reported.
The incident took place on Wednesday during a concert by singer İlkay Akkaya at ODTÜ’s Devrim Stadium as part of the university’s 37th International Spring Festival.
According to reports, tensions rose after a group of students in the upper stands unfurled Turkish flags, made the far-right “grey wolf” hand sign and chanted slogans including “We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal,” a reference to the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Other students accused the group of trying to provoke the crowd during the concert.
A brief scuffle broke out between the group in the stands and students attending the concert, and the performance was suspended until order was restored.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation on accusations of “insulting the symbols of state sovereignty,” “intentional injury,” “threats” and “insult.”
The National Police Department said in a statement on Friday that officers from the Ankara Police had examined images published in the media and on social media and detained six suspects identified as having taken part in the incident.
“Six people who were found to have been involved in the incidents during the concert held as part of the Spring Festival were apprehended, and judicial proceedings have been initiated against them,” the police said, identifying the suspects only by their initials.
Student groups at ODTÜ said some students were detained in police raids on their homes on Friday morning.
They claimed that the incident had been deliberately portrayed as an attack on the Turkish flag, while the real issue was an organized provocation targeting the university’s long-running spring festival tradition.
“What happened was presented as an attack on the flag, but this provocation was directed against the festival that ODTÜ students have built over the years,” students said in a statement.
Akkaya also denied allegations that the Turkish flag had been insulted, telling the T24 news website that a group carrying a large flag had begun booing during the concert.
The incident took place on the anniversary of the executions of Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan, three leftist student leaders who were hanged on May 6, 1972. ODTÜ students traditionally mark the anniversary with a “Revolution March” on campus.
ODTÜ, one of Turkey’s most prominent public universities, has a long history of leftist student activism and has frequently been at odds with government-appointed university administrations and police.
