The Education and Science Workers Union (Eğitim ve Bilim İş Görenleri Sendikası, abbreviated Eğitim İş) issued a statement on the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the Council of Higher Education (Yükseköğretim Kurulu, YÖK) calling for the institution’s abolition. The union described YÖK as “the instrument of oversight and suppression in academia” and argued that it was created by the 12 September 1981 military coup to control universities and the university student movement. In the statement, the union said YÖK was founded on 6 November 1981 by the military regime that had seized power on 12 September 1981. It claimed that, although the coup regime ended, the structures it created continued to suppress dissent. The union cited a declaration by former President Kenan Evren, in which he warned that universities, faculty members and students would be punished, as evidence that YÖK was established as a tool of repression. The union further alleged that during the first three years of YÖK’s existence more than 1,000 faculty members were removed from universities. It said that universities were brought under central control, and that scientific, academic and political activities were subjected to strict oversight. The union claimed that the 2002 election of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) did not end the pressure on universities; instead, the party “transformed YÖK into a more effective instrument of pressure.” It said that the current political regime has replaced the military oversight with “political domination” and that university governance is now carried out through a “market-oriented and repressive” YÖK mechanism. According to the union, rector positions are filled with individuals loyal to the ruling party, creating a system of caretaker rectors. The union argues that in contemporary Turkish universities, “science has been replaced by obedience, merit by loyalty, academic autonomy by censorship, and freedom by surveillance.” The union cited the 2025 Academic Freedom Index, in which Turkey scored 0.12 and ranked last among Council of Europe members. It also referenced the URAP 2025‑2026 ranking, noting that no Turkish university entered the top 500. The union stated that the legacy of the 12 September coup continues to drag the country into darkness and that the “bright future of the Republic” is threatened by the institutions created by that regime. In its call to action, the union urged that universities be restructured as independent, democratic, and autonomous institutions. It demanded that academic and administrative autonomy be constitutionally guaranteed, that university leadership be elected by the institutions’ own representatives, and that the use of emergency decrees (KHK) against academics be ended. The union also called for job security for faculty and for public guarantees of students’ housing and food rights. It concluded that science should be free and universities should be autonomous.