On picnic tables, students can write slogans on cardboard signs with markers. A group enthusiastically explains why they’re doing this. “We’re angry because Istanbul’s mayor, Imamoglu, has been removed from office, and his academic degree is being taken away,” explains an Innovation Engineering student. “Turkey is turning into an autocracy,” adds a Mechanical Engineering student. “Our democratic rights are being taken away,” says a fellow student. The students don’t want to be named for safety reasons.

Since the arrest of Imamoglu, students have been protesting daily in Turkey. “That was a turning point in what we can tolerate,” says an Electrical Engineering student. While he understands that a protest on the Koeveld won't directly encourage other actions by President Erdogan, he says, “But this way, we can still show support for our friends over there.”

Ninety to a hundred demonstrators listen to a Turkish speech from one of the organizing students. “It’s about support for students in Turkey who are being mistreated there,” translates a student who studies in Rotterdam. Besides TU/e students, there are many guests as well.

Face Masks and Hats

Many students know fellow students in Turkey who were arrested for protesting. The EE student has two friends in Ankara who experienced this earlier this week. A student from Tilburg shares that a friend in Istanbul was taken from her bed to a police station on Wednesday night. Even in the Netherlands, protesting doesn’t feel safe; most demonstrators are wearing full facial coverings.

Among the students is also a professor from IE&IS and JADS – without facial covering. “Democracy in Turkey has been deteriorating for years, but the last two weeks have felt like a ‘coup.’ It’s good that TU/e students are organizing this action. We need to show that this can’t continue. If Erdogan isn’t stopped now, I fear Turkey will remain under a totalitarian regime for a long time.”

Social Media

How do the demonstrators get news from their homeland? “Only through social media,” says a student who even had trouble getting in touch with her parents this week. “The internet was slow.” The professor confirms: “The messages I receive are sometimes ten hours old, and sometimes they come all at once. We are dependent on social media. Regular media is 95 percent under Erdogan’s control. The other five percent get fined or are blacked out for days.”
The turnout at Koeveld is higher than the professor had expected. “I’m surprised by how involved the young people are. Personally, I hope this demonstration will reach the Turkish people in Eindhoven who are not here.”
After chanting the slogan "Hak, Hukuk, Adalet" (Turkish for "Right, Law, Justice"), the demonstrators head to the 18 September Square in the city center after about 45 minutes. The protest there is organized via a WhatsApp channel.
TU/e security is not visibly present at the protest on Koeveld. Two enforcement officers are cycling along with the procession toward the city center. “These people will join the hundred people already there. We are here to protect them in case something happens. But we don’t expect any problems.”