Friday holiday at Istanbul University Faculty of Law

Istanbul University Faculty of Law is Turkey's first and most important Faculty of Law.

It is the flagship of the Republican era.

I am speaking of a history that contributed to the creation of the most important laws, played significant roles in the construction of Atatürk's Reforms, where the Great Atatürk sat in the desks and listened to lectures alongside students, and where faculty members stood while teaching.

Is the Istanbul Faculty of Law, the fortress of secularism, the guardian of the legal system, the pioneer of training contemporary jurists, and the source of pride and assurance of our country, declaring war on the Republican Reforms with this latest decision?

Is the fact that no classes are scheduled for Fridays in the faculty's 2026 Fall semester course programs a sign of an insidious rebellion?

When the 2026 Fall Semester Course Programs are examined, it is impossible to accept the leaving of Fridays blank as a coincidental phenomenon.

The only grade level in the faculty that has a class scheduled for Friday is the first year. The scheduled course is the "Atatürk's Principles and History of the Revolution" (2 hours) course, which is given online. In other words, the student will sit at home and take the class over the internet; they will not come to the faculty. In short, the Faculty of Law is on holiday on Fridays.

The implementation of the demand by anti-Revolutionary dark circles for years that "Fridays should be declared a holiday" by Turkey's most important Faculty of Law, such as Istanbul Law, shows what kind of disease Turkish higher education is facing.

Why the management staff of the Istanbul Faculty of Law did not react to this decision is a subject that needs to be scrutinized.

The Dean of Law holds a very dominant position in the faculty, as in addition to the deanship, they hold two different Department Chairmanships as a permanent appointment, two Department Chairmanships as an acting appointment, and also serve as the Director of a Research Center affiliated with the Rectorate. The fact that this person, who specializes in Islamic Law and manages to juggle so many roles at once, has not encountered any reaction regarding the decisions taken is also proof of the kind of transformation that academic life in Turkey has come under the influence of.

The de facto disregard of the regulation regarding the moving of the weekly holiday from Friday to Sunday, which was accepted with Law No. 239 in 1935 at the Istanbul Faculty of Law, the pioneer of the Republic's legal reform, is the beginning of a confrontation with the Republican regime.

The secret declaration of a holiday by quietly implementing the religious meaning attributed to Friday in a secular state of law creates doubt about what steps will be taken next.

We are going through days where we face the heavy price of ignoring what is happening and cannot cope with the losses created by silence.

We are being crushed under the weight of secularism and the gains of the Republic being left politically ownerless in Turkey.

We are moving through a process where we must see that if this silence continues, one day we will have nothing left in our hands to lose.

Turkish intellectuals have no choice but to fill the void created by politics, to protect the secular, democratic Turkey entrusted to them on the path to civilization and enlightenment, and to create awareness against the dark transformation that has been initiated.

It is the duty of the Turkish intellectual to say STOP to those who gnaw at secularism, those who divert it from its purpose, and those who ignore it for the sake of their political interests.