Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has reversed a controversial decision to close a private university in Istanbul just three days after the announcement sparked protests by hundreds of students and staff.
In a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette on 25 May, authorities announced that they would revoke their initial decision to remove Istanbul Bilgi University’s licence.
Bilgi, founded in 1996, is a private university with liberal values. It has about 20,000 students from Turkey and around the world.
The decision to close the university came eight months after it was seized by the state following a criminal investigation into its parent company. Can Holding, a Turkish conglomerate that acquired the institution in 2019 for $90 million (£67 million), was accused of money laundering, tax evasion and involvement in organised crime.
The university, along with companies owned by the conglomerate, was placed under the management of the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of Turkey.
