Assaulted students speak out: 'This is not the first incident'

Students studying at the KTÜ Faculty of Marine Sciences hired a private shuttle service for themselves due to issues such as minibus fares and the scarcity of scheduled trips.

Sürmene district minibus drivers blocked the path of the shuttle minibus, alleging that the service hired by the students was operating like a minibus and picking up passengers along the route.

According to the allegations, the minibus drivers first forced the shuttle driver out of the vehicle, threatened and assaulted him, and then assaulted the students who tried to intervene.

Following the students' report, police teams arrived at the scene, and the students obtained medical reports for their injuries and filed complaints against the drivers.

According to the report by Haber61, the students described what they went through.

"I TOOK THE FIRST PUNCH"

Emir Eken, a first-year student in the Department of Marine Transportation and Management Engineering, stated the following:

“The path of the shuttle we hired was blocked by minibuses on the way back to Sürmene. They took the shuttle driver outside. They took him somewhere. There were shouting sounds coming from there. My friends and I got off the shuttle to check the situation. They had aggressive attitudes. When they saw us, they dragged us out in a hurry. The fear on the shuttle driver's face was evident. Afterwards, a young person from that group tried to attack our friend. We held him back. While I was holding him, the minibus drivers attacked me. I took the first punch. The incident continued afterwards. We went to the police station after getting our medical reports. We filed a complaint. I heard that the individuals were taken into custody. I hope they get the punishment they deserve. Older students who studied at the same school have had the same things happen to them before. We experienced another version of the same event. From the very beginning, the attitude of the minibus drivers towards us was very wrong. They didn't see seafarers as customers, but as slaves.”

"THESE INCIDENTS HAVE ESCALATED WITHIN 2 YEARS"

Yusuf Çalışkan, a 4th-year student in the same department, said that these incidents have occurred frequently before and spoke as follows:

“There was an ongoing dispute between students and minibus drivers. But these incidents have escalated within the last 2 years. We had a similar problem in January. We had hired a shuttle, and the minibus drivers had threatened it. The shuttle we hired was legal. It had no irregularities. Despite that, they stopped our first-year friends and assaulted them. We filed a complaint. It is clearly revealed here that students are seen as a source of profit. We want to prevent this. All of our families are anxious. We don't want to go to school thinking about whether we will experience any incident today.”

"NECESSARY MEASURES SHOULD BE TAKEN"

“Our purpose for coming here is to receive an education. We experienced the same incident about 3-4 months ago. The minibus drivers came and detained our shuttle driver. They threatened him for 3-4 hours. The minibus drivers didn't want us to board our shuttle. They tried to oppose this. A small-scale scuffle had occurred then. They made physical contact with one of the students. We filed a complaint again. Our department professors tried to do their best. They tried to move our classes and exams to the main campus. But after this last incident, it is clear that our safety is not guaranteed. We want the necessary measures to be taken. We want them not to see students as a source of profit.”

"THERE WERE VERBAL INSULTS AND PROFANITY"

University student Muhammet Polat said, “About 3 months ago, a very similar incident happened again. There were verbal insults and profanity. Then, a day later, when we went to school and looked from the schoolyard, we saw 7-8 people, who we heard were the children of the minibus drivers, gathered with sticks below. We had explained the situation to the police and our professors. A major disaster was prevented at that time. Even though they see us waiting in a minibus uniform, empty minibuses coming from inside Sürmene do not stop and continue, wanting to pick up the people of Sürmene and then take us while we are standing. This was the reason why we hired a private school shuttle,” he expressed.

"THIS IS NOT THE FIRST INCIDENT"

1. -year student Burak Polat said, “After the incident we experienced yesterday, we cannot attend our classes in Sürmene. We are forced to attend them at the KTÜ Coastal facilities. If we go to Sürmene again in the coming weeks, we will encounter similar incidents. Because this incident was not the first. It happened to our upperclassmen before as well. We hope that this incident will be the last. We request that the necessary authorities do what is required.”

TWO MINIBUS DRIVERS ARRESTED

Regarding the incident in the Sürmene district yesterday, which was the subject of videos and news reports concerning the stopping of a vehicle carrying Karadeniz Technical University Marine Transportation and Management Engineering students and the assault of some students; regarding the injury incident that occurred as a result of a scuffle between suspects K.D., S.Y., and H.Y. and students F.Ö., E.D., and M.Ö. who were in the minibus, after suspect Ö.D. stopped his vehicle in front of the minibus carrying the students driven by T.D., forcing the vehicle to pull over to the right, and while T.D. and Ö.D. were talking inside the booth at the minibus stop, K.D., S.Y., H.Y., and Ö.D. were taken into custody.

Among the suspects taken into custody, S.Y. and H.S., who were referred to the Duty Magistrate Judge of Criminal Peace, were released with judicial control measures, while suspects K.D. and Ö.D. were arrested and sent to prison.

News Source: 12punto