Professor resigns after colleague dismissed for ‘insulting Erdoğan’

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency





“It does not comply with the existence of academic freedoms to dismiss professor Zeynep for expressing her ideas during lectures [with] no questions asked,” Neumann wrote in his resignation letter addressing the rector’s office.



“An institution without those freedoms cannot be called a university. It is your responsibility to find an appropriate name for that institution, but Bilgi is no longer a university. In this sense, Bilgi University does not exist anymore,” he added.



Bilgi University had announced the dismissal of Balıkçıoğlu on its website on June 16, a day after a number of pro-government media outlets criticized the academic for her remarks in class describing the president as “vulgar and rude.”



According to the statement, the university swiftly ordered an investigation into the claims and severed connections with Balıkçıoğlu as soon as reports surfaced in the media.



Professor Christoph K. Neumann has resigned from Istanbul’s Bilgi University following the dismissal of his colleague, Professor Zeynep Sayın Balıkçıoğlu, who was accused of “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a lecture.