Summary
Zirve University is a foundation university which started its educational activities in 2009 in Gaziantep. When it was closed in July 2016, it was continuing its education with 302 faculty members and 9500 students. Of the University had the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Dentistry, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, the Faculty of Communication, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Faculty of Architecture and Fine Arts, the Vocational School of Higher Education, three institutes and nine research centers. During the short education period, the university served with its modern education buildings, modern research centers, training hospitals and various social and sporting activities. Of the students, 10% were international students from all over the world. The pressures aimed at the founders of Zirve University reached the highest level in 2016. Finally, in July 2016, the administration was transferred to the government-appointed trustee.
Later on, the University of Zirve was closed on 23 July 2016 by a Decree based on the State of Emergency. Detention and arrests, which began before the closure order, continued in the months and years that followed. University founders and dozens of academics and employees were sentenced to up to 15 years in prison and the assets of the founding committee were seized. Due to the hostile attitude, the students suffered serious losses. Scholarships previously granted by Zirve University were discontinued and official documents were looted. Unfairly seized University buildings were first used as the additional campus of Gaziantep State University and then allocated to a another newly established university. This university, which had ten thousand students before, is still waiting idle in the last three years.
General Information About the University
Zirve University was established on 28 February 2009 in Gaziantep by the İpek Culture and Education Foundation. The University Board of Trustees included important business and political figures of Gaziantep. The university was built on approximately one thousand acres of land. The main campus of the University was called Kızılhisar Campus. It had a total closed area of 110 thousand square meters. In addition, there was a forty-acre satellite campus in Mersin to carry out activities on shipping. Near the campus area, Antepia housing project with approximately 3,500 residences was realized for students. In our university was “Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Faculty” which only a few universities in Turkey has. The University was established in a mix-oriented structure where research and education were carried out together. The language of education was English in the Faculties of Engineering, Architecture and Fine Arts, Economics and Administrative Sciences, and Turkish in others. There were many different levels of English education programs for all students.
Approximately 20% of the students of Zirve University received a full scholarship without paying tuition fees, and approximately 20% of them had a grant of 50% discount. The University also gave some other scholarschips as follows: Needs Scholarship (according to the results of the Central University Exam); Art, Culture and Sports Scholarship (depending on the representation of the University); Scholarship for national athletes; Special scholarships (for world, Olympic, Europe and Turkey champions in different fields). Moreover scholarships were also given to students who were successful during their educationi.
The university had 302 academics and 9500 students in the closing date of July 2016. About ten percent of the students were international students from 80 different countries. Within the university campus area, there were outdoor basketball and football fields and an indoor sports hall with a capacity of 600 audiences. Zirve University basketball team was located at 3rd national league and won the Turkey Championships of University Sports Federation in Turkey in 2014.
Zirve University cooperated with many industrial organizations in Gaziantep and carried out joint projects. Students put their theoretical knowledge into practice by doing internships in companies working in the field of trade and industry. For this purpose, an application workshop affiliated to the University was operating in the Industrial Zone.
Zirve University has an Erasmus agreement with about a hundred universities in Europe. University was located in the front ranks in terms of patent applications in Turkey. Zirve University, although it is a very new one, was in list of top 50 of the most entrepreneurial and innovative universities according to the Scientific and Technical Research Institute of Turkey. Innovation and R & D activities occupied an important place in university practices. The university was supported by industrial organizations in and around Gaziantep and trained qualified personnel for these organizations.
Zirve University Campus
University Education Units: Faculties
o Faculty of Education
o Faculty of Dentistry
o Faculty of Engineering
o Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences
o Faculty of Communication
o Faculty of Law
o Faculty of Medicine
o Faculty of Health Sciences
o Faculty of Architecture and Fine Arts
Vocational High School
o
Foreign Trade
o Justice
o Office Management and Executive
Assistant
o Child Development
o First and Emergency Aid
o
Physiotherapy
o Operating Room Services
o Applied English
and Translation
o Computer Programming
o Business
Management
The School of Foreign Languages
o English Preparation
o Academic English
o World Languages
Institutes
o
Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences
o Institute of
Social Sciences
o Institute of Health Sciences
Research Centers
o Middle East Strategic Research Center
o Nanotechnology Research and Application Center
o Food and Agriculture Center
o Continuing Education Center
o Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Center
o
Turkish Language Center
o Marine Engineering Simulation Center
o Family and Women Studies Research Center
The first students of Zirve University, Faculty of Dentistry; the joy of starting education
Pressures Before Closing
As of the end of 2013, the founders of Zirve University and the members of the Board of Trustees faced intense pressure from the Government. They have been subjected to so-called legal and illegal threats and attacks to leave the university administration and not support them. In particular, they were clearly targeted by the government-led media. With the games staged in an organized way, the goods of the most reliable businessmen in Gaziantep were blocked and investigations were started against themii. As part of the Government’s operations against the Gulen Movement, a new administration was appointed to the University Foundation and therefore the University on 3 July 2016iii.
Grievances after July 15
Some strange and unusual events that happened in the evening of July 15, 2016 was considered a coup attempt in Turkey and on this basis the State of Emergency was declared in the whole of Turkey. On 16 July 2016, Zirve University administration condemned the coup attempt and announced its support for democracyiv. However, the witch-hunting practices, which seem to have been planned in advance, were introduced before the “coup attempt” was heard and understood. The detentions against the founders and managers of Zirve University began in the following daysv,vi.
Zirve University was closed down with the first State Decree of 23 July 2016 concurrently with the other fourteen foundation universities under the pretext of the suspected coup attempt on 15 July 2016vii. Even the personal belongings of university faculty and staff were not allowed to be taken after the closure decision. Some of them were able to get some personal belongings after a long time. Academicians who were left unemployed by this decree could not find jobs in any other academic and non-academic institutionsviii.
Zirve University was subjected to many attacks and slander just before and after the closure. Some ironic events deserve to be included in the history books. When Zirve University was closed, there were 600 experimental animals in the Animals Laboratory of the University. Gaziantep University, which is the guarantor state university, normally and legally had to took over all the assets of the closed University, including experimental animals. This situation presented to public opinion as if Zirve University had closed down on its own and Gaziantep State University had taken care of these animalsix. Ironically the Rector of the State University, Dr. Yavuz Coşkun, was a part of this deception and presented the situation as a source of pride for himself. The licensed shooting range which was already available in Campus was presented like a new discovery by Rector Prof. Dr. Ali Gür to collect sympathy of governmentx,xi.
After the alleged coup attempt, on August 8, 2016, 9 people of Zirve University Founder of the Foundation Board of Trustees and business people in administrative and academic staff from the University were arrestedxii. On August 21, 2016, 12 academicians from Zirve University were detained on the same groundsxiii. In the next operation targeting the academician, 18 academics more were detained and four of them were arrestedxiv. In subsequent months and years, similar arrests continued unabated. The University’s Board of Trustees, academics and administrative staff were jailed pending trial for almost three years. In this process, which was initiated with the allegation of coup attempt and continued with the seizure of the assets of the University and the founders of the foundation, all the accusations turned into “Terrorist Organization Membership” or “Terrorist Organization Manager”. With the lynching of pro-government media, philanthropists and academics were sentenced to imprisonment for up to 15 years. As a striking example, a court on 14. 05. 2019 sentenced 19 people to 125 years, 8 months and 21 days of imprisonmentxv,xvi. The State University of Gaziantep clearly showed hostility towards the students of the university it was the guarantor of, and victimized them by throwing the documents in the trash. Some documents belonging to the university, after July 15, almost lootedxvii. The efforts of othering and annihilating against the university were extended to foreign students working and studying at Zirve University, and they were unable to find or study at other institutions. Many foreign teachers and students were deported just because they worked or studied in schools associated with the Gulen Movementxviii. In order to defame the university graduates, some investigations were conducted by claiming that some diplomas were questionable. Unfortunately, the country had media that was not ashamed to write these unfounded claims and slandersxix. Zirve University’s large and well-equipped campus has always been the subject of discussion. The University, which was built entirely with donations, in the way of clearly infringing upon the foundation law, was first given as the second campus area of Gaziantep University. In May 2018, a new university was established on the campus of Zirve University under the name of Gaziantep Science and Technology University and this name was changed to Gaziantep Islamic Science and Technology University on 17 January 2019xx,xxi. This squatter-style university, which has been established in place of Zirve University, which is modern, professional in all aspects and focused on innovation and competing with the world, looks like a cartoon of Zirve University. The university, which was established in the same campus after more than three years after the usurpation and closure of the Zirve University, has not yet gone beyond being a draft.
i https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zirve_%C3%9Cniversitesi#Burslar
ii http://ekonomi.haber7.com/is-dunyasi/haber/1583260-isadami-nakiboglu-mal-varligina-tedbir-kondu
iii http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/zirve-universitesine-eski-bakan-kayyum-olarak-atandi-40128522
iv https://www.sondakika.com/haber/haber-zirve-universitesi-nden-darbe-girisimine-kinama-8616179/
v https://www.sondakika.com/haber/haber-gaziantepli-isadamina-havaalaninda-gozalti-8629346/
vi https://www.sondakika.com/haber/haber-naksan-holding-yonetim-kurulu-baskani-nakipoglu-ve-8642972/
vii http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2016/07/20160723-8.htm
viii https://t24.com.tr/haber/ohalin-akademideki-bilancosu-ne,373373
ix https://www.sondakika.com/haber/haber-feto-magduru-hayvanlara-devlet-sahip-cikti-8649084/
x https://www.sondakika.com/haber/haber-feto-ile-baglantili-universitede-atis-poligonu-8820309/
xi https://www.sondakika.com/haber/haber-gaziantep-te-kafalari-karistiran-aciklama-8827526/
xii https://www.sondakika.com/haber/haber-gaziantep-te-feto-ye-9-tutuklama-8686430/
xiii https://www.timeturk.com/zirve-universitesi-nde-feto-operasyonu-12-gozalti/haber-296912
xiv https://www.sondakika.com/haber/haber-feto-nun-darbe-girisimine-iliskin-sorusturma-3-8806383/
xv https://www.memohaber.com/asayis/naksanda-gerekceli-karar-aciklandineler-neler-var/28205/
xvi http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/fetonun-kapatilan-zirve-universitesi-davasinda-karar-41213426
xvii https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-turkiye-37129749
xviii https://www.amerikaninsesi.com/a/suriyeli-ogrenci-ve-ogretmenlere-feto-sorusturmasi/3839744.html
xix https://www.memohaber.com/haber/gaziantep-zirve-universitesi-mezunlarina-sok/17133/
xx https://www.haberler.com/islami-bilim-ve-teknoloji-universitesi-kente-deger-11666382-haberi/
xxi http://www.gibtu.net/pages/tarihce.html
