University students gathered in front of the Istanbul University Tradesmen’s Cafeteria, where they had torn down police barricades a year ago, and marched to Beyazıt Square under the slogan “The youth are here, freedom is in the streets,” protesting repression, a lack of future prospects, investigations, detentions, and arrests.
Chanting slogans such as “Stand shoulder to shoulder against fascism,” “Revolt, revolution, and freedom,” and “Beyazıt will bury fascism,” the students once again underlined that they would not surrender to the darkness imposed on them.
Making a statement in Beyazıt Square, university students recalled that exactly one year ago they had broken through police barricades and dismantled the fascist siege that was being imposed on youth.
They emphasized that the barricade placed in front of them on 19 March was not merely a police barrier, but a wall of fear built by 24 years of Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule. They said: “During this period, we faced detentions and arrests involving torture, but we did not stop. More than three hundred young people were imprisoned for days, even months, simply for defending their rights and taking to the streets. Yet none of our friends gave up their struggle or took a step back.”
Students stated that the AKP government is once again trying to silence those who defend their rights and future through arrests, suspensions, and house arrest measures. They said: “The AKP government seeks to fully subjugate a youth it has condemned to a future without prospects, subjected to death in vocational training centers, unleashed fascist groups upon in universities, and exploited to the core. But young people have once again shown that they will not allow this and will defend themselves. Our struggle is greater than the order you are trying to impose. From the square where we overcame the barricades and became a source of hope for an entire country, we declare once again: We will never give up our struggle.”
Students also pointed out that university lecture halls are being turned into the backyard of religious groups and capital interests, adding that scientific thought is being sacrificed to projects aimed at creating a “model citizen,” and that in campuses surrounded by police and private security, even the most basic forms of free expression, debate, and democratic organization are treated as crimes.
The students said, “This cannot continue. Universities are not your companies, they are our living spaces,” and added: “Our response to those who condemn us to poverty and unemployment, who steal our hope, and who seek to take away our future is clear: We will not surrender to your darkness.”
Following the statement, students sang the “Gündoğdu March” and danced halay (a traditional Kurdish and Anatolian line dance performed in groups), sending the message that they will continue to carry forward the spirit of 19 March.
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