Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera | Turkiye shutters liberal Istanbul university seized in criminal probe AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan revoked the operating licence of Istanbul Bilgi University – a private institution known for its liberal values and home to about 20,000 students – effectively shutting it down in the middle of the academic year. The decree, published in the Official Gazette, cites a law allowing closure of schools deemed “insufficient” in education and training, and follows a state takeover last year after Bilgi’s parent company, Can Holdings, was implicated in a money‑laundering and tax‑fraud investigation. With the university now run by a court‑appointed administrator, the Council of Higher Education pledged “necessary measures” so students can sit their end‑of‑year exams and continue their studies at Mimar Sinan University; protests erupted on campus and the university, founded in 1996 and ranked 1,401 globally, participates in the Erasmus Mundus programme. Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/22/turkiye-shutters-liberal-istanbul-university-seized-in-criminal-probe?traffic_source=rss #RecepErdogan #BilgiUniversity #CanHoldings #YamenAkdeniz #highereducation #RecepTayyipErdogan