03.06.2026 16:30
During the graduation ceremony of Akdeniz University's Faculty of Communication, students protesting organizational disruptions turned their backs on the Vice Rector and the Dean while they were speaking. Reacting harshly to the students' protest from the stage, Journalism Department Head Narin Tülay Bektaş said, "You did not keep your word, I am not giving you your diplomas," and left the podium. Following Bektaş, who drew criticism, another faculty member took the stage and handed the diplomas to the students.
The joint graduation ceremony for the departments of Public Relations and Promotion, Radio Television and Cinema, Journalism, and Advertising was held on June 2nd at the Ataturk Conference Hall. However, organizational disruptions and administrative decisions turned the ceremony into more of a protest zone than a celebration.
HALL TOO SMALL, FAMILIES LEFT STANDING
The graduation ceremony for four departments of the Faculty of Communication was organized simultaneously in a single hall. Due to the insufficient capacity of the conference hall, many graduates' relatives and families had to watch the ceremony standing. The lack of coordination did not end there; it was revealed that the valedictorian of the Journalism Department had not been informed that they were the department's top student until the ceremony began.
STUDENTS TURN THEIR BACKS ON VICE RECTOR AND DEAN
Communication students, protesting the abolition of joint graduation ceremonies, last-minute preparations, and being squeezed into a narrow space, staged a striking act during the podium speeches. When Akdeniz University Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Ayşe Gülbin Arıcı and Faculty of Communication Dean Prof. Dr. Seçil Deren Van Het Hof took the stage to speak, the students collectively turned their backs in protest against the administration.
SHOCKING MOVE FROM DEPARTMENT HEAD: I AM NOT GIVING YOUR DIPLOMAS
The main tension at the ceremony occurred during the diploma presentation. Taking the stage, Head of the Journalism Department Prof. Dr. Narin Tülay Bektaş reacted harshly to the student protest, saying: "Yesterday, your class representative promised me; they said, 'Professor, okay, we will conduct our protest by not sending visuals.' I believed them and said, 'If you protest, I will go up there and not give you your diplomas.' As a journalist, you could not keep your word, but as a journalism professor, I keep my word, and I am not giving your diplomas."
After these words, Bektaş refused to distribute diplomas to the students and left the stage, being booed and protested by the graduates in the hall.
"UNIVERSITY IS A PLACE OF CRITICAL CULTURE"
After the department head left the stage, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Murad Karaduman took the podium to defuse the crisis. Criticizing the students' form of protest but stating he would give out the diplomas, Karaduman said: "University is a place of critical culture, but I would have expected more elegant and smarter criticism from my students. Nevertheless, I will still give out their diplomas here to avoid hurting our other students."