On Thursday 27th of March, students from the University of Bristol, the University of the West of England and other nearby cities came together outside Wills Memorial Building to protest the 'the unlawful practices of the Turkish Government'.
By Robin Chatan
Protesters held signs stating, 'Jailing the Opposition is Killing Democracy', 'Silence is Support for Dictatorship' and 'Make Turkey Democratic Again', calling for the renewal of freedom of speech, press and democracy in the country.
Speaking to Epigram, protestors said the aim of the protest was to, 'make the university community and wider society aware of what is going on in Turkey and to show solidarity and support for fellow university students in Turkey.'
'They took on the real challenge by protesting on the streets despite the harsh practices of the police against the demonstrators and of course with the biggest risk of being arrested for voicing their opinions.'
Current protests in Turkey against the authorities have been sparked by the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu, Turkish President Erdogan's main political rival who was set to be nominated as his party's presidential candidate, over an alleged investigation into corruption and terror links.
Authorities in Turkey banned demonstrations in Istanbul for four days and restricted access to multiple social media platforms in an effort to prevent protests following the arrest.
However, shortly after the detention of the presidential candidate, thousands of protesters, mostly university students, flooded the streets of Istanbul, waving Turkish flags and chanting in front of police. Although protests have largely been peaceful, armed officers are using riot gear, rubber bullets and tear gas to break up demonstrations and thousands of people have been arrested.
Since 2016, when President Erdogan faced an attempted coup, Turkey’s courts have been pressuring opposition parties using charges as grafts or ties to terrorist organisations to discredit his rivals. However, the government claims the courts are fully independent and denies claims that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated.
Participants of the protest mentioned that in the future they would like people to see that their cause is not political, but universal and would appreciate the support of people from any background, gender or race.
'The values we promote during these demonstrations are universal, in this crowd, we have people with different political views with their common ground being the understanding of universal values, such as freedom of speech, freedom of press, and democracy.'
When asked what the university community could do to help the protestors in their struggle, they said:
'Awareness. We are not looking for anything but understanding and awareness. Media coverage is a huge help to our struggle and we would be grateful for the presence of the community within our protests to know that we are not alone.'
'We will stand together until things are made right and justice is maintained. We believe it is our responsibility to do whatever we can.'
As the future of Turkey remains uncertain, these students from different cities of the UK are determined to keep meeting to try to get their voices heard and increase public awareness of the issue.
