The operation license of Istanbul Bilgi University was revoked by a presidential decree issued on early hours of May 20. This is where we held our last Istanbul HM meeting last April thanks to the courage of the comrades from Bilgi University. Previously, as part of an investigation concerning the founding foundation of the University, a new board of trustees and a rectorate were appointed. With this decree the university was virtually closed.
The decision follows a now-familiar pattern of abrupt, overnight measures that bypass transparency and due process. The closure places students, academic staff, and university workers in a position of deep uncertainty and constitutes a serious infringement on their rights to education, work, and institutional continuity.
This development cannot be viewed in isolation. It reflects a broader trajectory in which legal and administrative mechanisms are increasingly used to exert political control over autonomous institutions.
Over recent years, interventions into universities and other public spheres have undermined institutional autonomy and weakened already fragile guarantees of academic freedom.and the subsequent appointment of its rectorate. These processes have contributed to an atmosphere of precarity within the institution. The final closure now marks a critical escalation with far-reaching consequences for its academic community.
In this chaos, created by the shock-and-awe tactics of a neoliberal conservative nationalist government, we extend our solidarity to the comrades and colleagues at Istanbul Bilgi University, who courageously hosted the HM conference last April despite the mounting political pressures and risks.
Historical Materialism Istanbul 2026 