Girls' dorm residents in Turkey's Zonguldak protest amid harrassment, kidnapping of students

Some 250 residents of a public girls' dormitory in the Kozlu district of the northern Turkish province of Zonguldak staged a protest in front of their building on the night of Oct. 10, saying the administration cannot provide their security as two student residents were kidnapped over the last four days. 

In the four-hour long demonstration outside the Nesibe Hatun Student Dormitory, which hosts 1,600 students of the Bülent Ecevit University in Zonguldak, the group voiced concerns over security in the area around the dormitory. 

In one of the recent kidnapping incidents, a resident of the dormitory was abducted by her boyfriend on Oct. 7. The suspect, who was detained a day after the incident, was later released on probation by a court.

Another subsequent alleged kidnapping incident prompted residents of the dorm to stage a protest, during which two students fainted and police took security measures.    

Büşra Serçeoğlu, one of the protesters, said the authorities had done nothing to address their security concerns at the dorm. 

"We don't have security of life here. Our dorm president said 'I wonder what she did to get kidnapped.' Again, as always, women are the ones found guilty. Those responsible have not done what they are supposed to do," Serçeoğlu said. 

"Now the police say, 'We're here for you.' But two girls were kidnapped in a week. This road [leading to the dormitory] is not safe at all. They [the dorm administration] said police vehicles would be stationed in front of the dorm every hour, but this never happened. We don't have any security at this dorm," she added.

Another resident of the dormitory, Sena Temizyürk, said construction workers at site around the dorm had harassed them. "They...