Erdoğan’s attack on private universities

A bitter fact about Turkey has become painfully obvious in the past couple of years, especially the past couple of months: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants to control and transform almost every aspect of the state and society. He wants to subdue not just the executive, in other words, but also; the legislation, the judiciary, the Central Bank, the media, civil society, and even the universities.

Erdoğan’s plans for the latter can be seen in a staggering draft law, which the government presented to Parliament last week. In a very clear attempt to increase and expand the already highly centralized and authoritarian Higher Education Board (YÖK), to which all universities are tied, the law suggests the following:

1) The YÖK, whose chair and members are appointed by the president, will now have the authority to appoint the executive boards of all universities, including private ones. (Yes, private ones!) In other words, private universities such as Koç, Sabancı, Bahçeşehir or Bilkent will not be able to decide who will be their president or board members. It will all be up to the orders of YÖK, (i.e. the government). In fact, if this law passes, I wonder why anyone would ever want to open a new private university. It will be like starting up a company and then giving its keys to the government.

2) The YÖK will also have the authority to decide which academics will get tenure, or who will become an associate professor or professor. Until now, such titles were given to academics, based on their experience and performance, by the Inter-University Board (ÜAK), which was independent from the government. Now, if this law passes, the government will basically be able to decide which members of academia get...