Istanbul Bilgi University students accuse school management of negligence in attack on Women's Day demo

Students and academics from Bilgi University have accused the school's administrators of negligence regarding a knife attack on a booth erected to mark International Women's Day. 

A mob illegally entered the Bilgi University campus in central Istanbul to attack students on March 8, prompting widespread anger among students and social media users. 

A group of around 100 students gathered in the garden of the university's Santral campus to make a press statement on March 9. İrem Esmer, who was wounded in the attack, also participated in the gathering. 

Saying the perpetrators included students from the university and that they had previously been the subject of complaints, the students said the attack was "not an isolated incident" and that they had been subjected to threats and harassment for the past two years. 

"We deployed self-defense against the male group that attacked us with knives, and that's how we emerged from the incident without severe injury. This is not an isolated attack; it is the latest point in the threats and harassments we have been systematically subjected to for the past two years. We reported these threats and harassments to the rector's office countless times, but no action was taken regarding these people," said Rabia Demircioğlu, one of the students.

Another student, Zeynep Sarıkaya, who is among the members of the Bilgi Women's Club that set up the booth, said they recognized some of the attackers.

"There is a group called the Nationalist Thought Club at the university. For the past two years, they've been threatening us on social media or face to face. We complained about this group and its members to the rector's office," Sarıkaya said. 

The academics, meanwhile, said "brute...