The minister of National Education, Ömer Dinçer, stated that in 2010 and 2011 a total of 7,043 college students have been subjected to disciplinary investigations at their colleges. 4,602 of them have received suspensions while 55 have been expelled from their colleges.
Dinçer's statement was in response to a parliamentary question posed by Levent Tüzel, an independent MP (member of parliament), who represents Istanbul.
Veli Ağbaba, another MP who represents Malatya and is a member of the Republican People's Party, commented that the situation in universities is worse than it had been under the 1980 military regime as university administrations assume the role of judges and punish their students long before courts make any decisions about their actions, which are mostly basic assertions of civil liberties.
