A letter from Galatasaray: The youth will not be silenced

Dear BirGün readers,

We greet you from our lecture halls and campuses from Galatasaray University. We send our greetings with hope and determination.

Dear BirGün readers,

We write to you as Galatasaray University students, the students who ignited the academic boycott on Thursday, 20 March; who organised it stitch by stitch on our campus; and who have always stood by our professor Aylin, whose diploma was unlawfully revoked. For over a week now, we’ve been in the streets, on our campuses. One day we filled the streets of Beşiktaş, another day we stood shoulder to shoulder with tens of thousands of friends in the grand student rally at Beyazıt. Against the one-man regime, we never left the streets, campuses, or squares empty, we stood together.

Our resistance, which began on 19 March when we broke through the barricade at İstanbul University alongside our fellow students in protest against the diploma cancellations and detentions, has now entered a new phase. We believe it’s important to tell the story of the first phase of this resistance from Galatasaray University one of its active centres.

We were born into the 23-year rule of the AKP. We’ve witnessed firsthand the gradual stripping of our fundamental rights and the transformation of our schools for market interests. To prevent us from speaking out or rising up, they have constantly wielded repression: investigations, detentions, pressure, and appointed trustees. The intensifying pressure on all opposition culminated for us in the detentions on the morning of 19 March. That was the breaking point.

We gathered not just for a few politicians, but to reclaim our stolen future to defend our freedom against state oppression in every sphere of life, and to demand autonomous and democratic universities against trustee rectors.

On the morning of 20 March, we came together to announce our boycott in classrooms. As we made posters and placards, we saw in the eyes of many classmates not only their rage at this regime but also the lasting threat of years of pressure and investigations, endured while struggling to survive under difficult conditions. But our anger against this regime of cruelty was so alive, so fierce, that within hours, we found ourselves in on-campus protests, forums, and then marching with thousands through the streets of Beşiktaş to Kabataş. Our belief in the struggle and our unity helped all our friends overcome their fear. Later, in Saraçhane, as we resisted tear gas and rubber bullets, we stood together once more, shoulder to shoulder.

In the following days, we gathered daily at our university, held forums, and established our Student Representative Council (ÖTK). Every decision was made democratically, with the involvement of all students in the decision-making process. Whether at the mass student rally in Beyazıt Square, marching from Beşiktaş Square to Galata Bridge to bring life to a standstill, or walking from Maçka Park to Şişli Municipality, we were always united.

The political Islamist fascist regime, watching all this, now tries to silence us with early-morning home raids, detentions, and arrests. Hundreds of people, including our classmates, are being arrested and held in custody for hours, even days.

As Galatasaray University students, we stand with our detained and arrested friends, and with our professor Aylin, whose diploma was revoked unlawfully. As we enter the second phase of our resistance, we will continue to grow the struggle for a democratic country and an autonomous, democratic university and strengthen youth’s united action!

Galatasaray University Students

Note: This text has been translated from the original Turkish version titled Galatasaray’dan mektup var: Gençlik susmayacak, published in BirGün newspaper on 30 March, 2025.