Erdoğan Reverses Decision to Close Istanbul University Amid Protests

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reversed his controversial decision on Sunday to close a liberal private university in Istanbul, according to a decree published in the official gazette.

Hundreds of students and lecturers demonstrated earlier in the day outside the main campus of Istanbul Bilgi University, which has been closed since Friday, to demand its reopening.

Erdoğan on Friday ordered its closure in the middle of the school year, in an official decree.

It cited a law allowing for the closure of a private institution if "the expected level of education and training...is insufficient," a charge rejected by Bilgi students and staff.

"We will stay here until the university reopens its doors," said student union activist Emir Aydogan, demonstrating at the university on Sunday.

The decree to close the university, one of the country's oldest private higher education institutions, came eight months after its owner was seized by the state in a criminal investigation into alleged fraud and money laundering.

The Küçükçekmece Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched its investigation into Can Holding in September 2025, alleging that the group's principals had established a criminal organisation and engaged in money laundering and tax evasion.

Detention orders were issued for 10 people, including principals Mehmet Şakir Can, Kemal Can and Kenan Tekdağ.

As part of the operation, 121 Can Holding companies were seized and placed under the management of the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). Among those seized were the television channels Habertürk and Show TV, the financial news channel Bloomberg HT, the Doğa school network, and Istanbul Bilgi University.

Investigators said at the time they had discovered that “large amounts of money of unknown origin were entered via companies operating under Can Holding,” which were transferred between companies to conceal the origin. Forged documents were also allegedly used to reduce tax liability, they said in a statement.

The three media outlets had been acquired by Can Holding in December 2024.

Prosecutors added that some of Can Holding’s activities were “directly financed with criminal revenues.”

The TMSF was established in 1983 as a banking deposit insurance body but its mandate was significantly expanded by government decrees following the 2016 coup attempt and further broadened by legislative amendments that came into force in January 2025. It currently controls more than 1,000 companies.

Founded on 7 June 1996 as Turkey's fourth private foundation university, Bilgi became part of the Laureate International Universities network, a US-based group operating universities across multiple continents, in 2006. Can Holding acquired it in 2019 for $90 million.

Bilgi, which participates in the EU's Erasmus exchange programme, has more than 20,000 students from both Turkey and abroad, and some of its researchers are renowned in their fields.

Erdoğan, in office since 2003 as prime minister and then president, has been fiercely criticised by rights groups for authoritarian moves against his opponents.