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Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Students stood in front of construction vehicles on Sept. 6 morning. Protests erupted again in the afternoon with police once again resorting to tear gas inside the campus to quell the protesters. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Daily Hürriyet photo reporter Rıza Özel was injured after being hit in the leg by a rubber bullet fired by the police while escaping from the crackdown with the students. Özel was also struck by a stone on the head. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
The university's Rector’s Office said in a written statement Sept. 4 that around 3,000 trees would be affected inside the campus due to a controversial road construction project. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Ankara Municipality is planning a road project connecting Anadolu Boulevard and Konya Highway, which will cross the ODTÜ campus and lead to the cutting down of trees on its way. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Meanwhile, Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek, known for his lively Twitter commentary and often controversial statements, refuted claims that the road would 'divide up the campus in half,' accusing the ODTÜ administration of trying to solve the issue of 'illegal ODTÜ buildings' through the protected site controversy. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
'Only' half of the road would overlap with the ODTÜ area, and 'only' 400 meters of that is a protected site, Gökçek says. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Ankara Greater Municipality council’s decision on March 15, 2013, signed by Gökçek, says that the project enters a 'natural site area for around 9,000 meters at the Dumlupınar crossroads, also entering at the ODTÜ 1 forestry area, an area of around 8,000 meters. There are partial properties of the ODTÜ and 5,000 meters of private property along the route.' DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
However, Gökçek vowed to compensate for the destruction of the forested area by planting trees somewhere else. 'I guarantee the planting of 10,000 full-grown trees in any area chosen by the ODTÜ administration. I wonder who they could deceive with ‘they are massacring trees here’ lines when I’m here making such an offer,' Gökçek said. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
On Sept. 6, Students protesting the road project hugged the trees to prevent their removal from the area. The police then dispersed the group with tear gas and loaded the removed trees onto lorries and took them away. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Ankara’s Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) students gathered to denounce a road project that will lead to the demolition of a forested area inside the campus. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Some protesters were even kicked by riot police officers, daily Hürriyet reported. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
ODTÜ students had previously held a symbolic sealing demonstration at the building site and gave a press statement in front of the Urban Planning and Environment Ministry to express their opposition to the road construction. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
ODTÜ’s leafy campus is one of the greenest areas of Ankara and has become an island of trees in the last years after a construction boom in the surrounding area that also affected the car traffic in the vicinity. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Many scuffles erupted at the end of the study year on the campus, prompting police forces to resort to water cannon trucks (TOMAs) and tear gas to quell the students. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Protesters opposing the construction of a planned road project connecting the Anadolu Boulevard and the Konya Highway have been staging an 'occupy protest' in the area since last month. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Riot police present at the site with water cannon trucks detained 14 people protesting the destruction work, six of whom were students. The municipality’s road construction has since begun. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
T. he Chambers of Architects Ankara branch head Ali Hakkan said they would file a complaint against the construction, adding that they had ascertained that 7,300 trees would be cut for the project. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
A similar gesture at Istanbul's Gezi Park by Peace and Democracy Party deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder in the end of May had triggered months of nation-wide anti-government protests. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Hüseyin Aygün (C), then sat on the ground next to the vehicles to stop their work from continuing. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Activists in Istanbul on Sept. 6 called for a demonstration in support of ODTÜ students. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies Hüseyin Aygün, İlhan Cihaner and Aylin Nazlıaka joined a group of protesters at ODTÜ and stood in front of the construction vehicles to halt the road construction. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Nazlıaka (C) told a man who said he was the site chief that the work was unlawful, also adding that none of the workers in the area were carrying the municipality’s ID cards. After this warning, the protesters demanded the workers show their municipality ID cards, and a scuffle between the workers and protesters took place. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Police continued their crackdown against the demonstrators, which included the family of killed Gezi protester Ethem Sarısülük, throughout the evening, firing multiple volleys of tear gas. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
One demonstrator was reportedly also taken to hospital after being struck in the head by a gas capsule fired by police. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
Protests in solidarity were held in Istanbul's Kadıköy and Taksim areas, Eskişehir and İzmir. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
ome of the gas capsules reportedly ignited fires in ODTÜ's forested area, sending demonstrators scrambling to douse the flames. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
The protests in Taksim drew charges from police cannon, but a large number of protesters marched down İstiklal, shouting slogans in support of the resistance at ODTÜ. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Police use tear gas to quell ODTÜ students opposing campus-crossing road
The Culture and Tourism ministry’s Ankara Culture and Nature protection Board’s decision on March 6, 1995 says that the area inside ODTÜ’s campus is a natural site area. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
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