Infamous mafia leader Çakıcı urges Erdoğan-appointed Boğaziçi University rector not to resign in the face of protests

Neşe İdil / Duvar English 

Infamous mafia leader Alaattin Çakıcı has urged Melih Bulu, the newly-appointed rector of Boğaziçi University, not to resign in the face of ongoing protests against his appointment, commenting on the country's agenda as if he is a legitimate political figure. 

Çakıcı - a close friend of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli - has said that the resignation of Bulu, who was appointed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Jan. 2 to Turkey's most prestigious higher education institution, would clear the way "for the terrorist protestors."

"Please! Don't resign. If you resign, you would be clearing the way for these terrorist protestors," Çakıcı, who is a convicted criminal targeting the opponents of the government with full impunity, said in a letter filled with ludicrous accusations against Boğaziçi University students on Feb. 8. 

"You don't have the right to breach this blessed alliance. Don't forget that you have the state and our nation supporting you," he also said, referring to the People's Alliance consisting of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the MHP. 

Boğaziçi University students and academics have been protesting Erdoğan's appointment of Bulu, a long-time AKP member with poor skills in numerous areas, since Jan. 2. The students were met with police violence on the first day of their protests, which prompted more and more people across Turkey to support their cause. 

Since the beginning of the protests, the AKP used its well-known discourse against the protestors by calling them "terrorists" and attempted to link the students to illegal or political groups. Nine students have been arrested so far. 

MHP leader Bahçeli was among the politicians to join the hate choir against the Boğaziçi University students, going as far as to call them “poisonous snakes whose heads need to be crushed.”

The latest addition to the hate campaign against the students is Çakıcı, who claimed that the opposition, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C) are carrying out the protest in Boğaziçi University. 

"They call on the rector to resign in order to harm the state institutions and the People's Alliance," Çakıcı said on Feb. 8, although the only demand of the students and academics is the election of a rector through democratic means. 

Ruling alliance's relations with the mafia

Çakıcı, whose crimes are well-known in Turkey, currently enjoys his reemergence on the political scene through sharing his letters on Twitter due to being Bahçeli's close friend and his years of service to the deep state. 

The mafia leader served 16 years in prison and was freed upon Bahçeli's extensive efforts last year under the guise of pandemic measures. 

Since being released, he has made numerous controversial statements, including threatening main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, with full impunity. 

Various social media users, meanwhile, pointed to the irony of Çakıcı's letter and said that the ruling alliance has an open relationship with the mafia when it accuses its critics of being terrorists nearly every day. 

There were also those who asked whether Bulu is proud of himself now that he has the support of the mafia behind him. 

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