Turkish police detained 97 people on Tuesday during student-led demonstrations at İstanbul’s Boğaziçi University protesting a campus event featuring a controversial Islamic preacher known for past views interpreted as legitimizing child marriage, Turkish Media reported.
The event, titled “Islamic Sciences: For Whom and How Much?” was organized by the university’s Islamic Studies Club (BİSAK) and featured Nureddin Yıldız, a theologian and author. Yıldız has attracted public condemnation for comments he made in a 2015 religious broadcast in which he said Islamic law does not impose a minimum age for marriage and that children as young as six could be legally wed.
His appearance on campus sparked protests from students and activists who accused the university of providing a platform to someone whose views they see as incompatible with human rights and child protection standards.
Protesters carried banners that read, “There’s no place in our university for a mindset that legitimizes male violence and abuse.” Slogans included “Nureddin, get out, these campuses are ours” and “No to sharia, fascism and darkness.”
Clashes broke out when riot police intervened to prevent students from marching toward the venue.
Video footage circulated online showed a protester being forcibly removed from the event hall after allegedly throwing an object at Yıldız. Witnesses said the person was physically assaulted by attendees before being taken out.
According to the İstanbul Governor’s Office, 97 people were detained, 39 women and 58 men. Thirteen police officers were reported injured, mainly from falls during attempts to control the crowd.
Of detainees, 82 were released after initial processing. Fifteen individuals, including Can Öztürk, a journalist from the T24 news outlet, were referred to court on Wednesday morning. Prosecutors had accused the suspects of resisting police efforts to disperse the protest and requested their formal arrest. They were transferred to a court for a decision.
Of the individuals referred to court, eight had appeared before a judge by late Wednesday. Four students were formally arrested, while the other four were released under judicial supervision. Proceedings for the remaining seven individuals had not yet begun at the time of reporting.
Lawyers and family members who went to the Vatan police station to support the detainees reported being prevented from seeing them, prompting further criticism from human rights observers and opposition figures.
Boğaziçi University has been a flashpoint for protests since 2021, when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed a rector without internal elections, a move widely viewed as an erosion of academic autonomy. The university’s administration said disciplinary action would be initiated against students involved in the protests.
Opposition politicians harshly criticized the police response.
Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairperson Sevgi Kılıç condemned the intervention, saying on X, “Trying to silence students through arrests is part of the authoritarian regime’s effort to control universities. The appointed rector is complicit in exposing students to police violence.” She added that lawyers attempting to support students were also blocked, calling it “a blatant violation of the right to legal defense.”
CHP lawmaker Mahmut Tanal asked why police failed to act against a pro-Yıldız group outside the campus that he said posed a threat. “Why is tear gas, handcuffing and arrest used against students exercising their constitutional right to protest while no intervention is made against a group openly threatening them?” he wrote.
CHP MP Özgür Karabat also condemned the detentions: “Ninety-seven people were taken into custody, with tear gas and handcuffs, for raising their voice against a bigot who defends child abuse. Boğaziçi students are the pride of this country. No one will be left alone in this struggle.”
