US revokes visa of Turkish PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk

Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk, pursuing a doctorate at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, US, was detained on March 25.

Speaking about the incident, which gained attention in the US, Senator Marco Rubio confirmed that Ozturk’s visa had been canceled.

Rubio stated, “We gave you a visa to get an education; not to be a social activist who destroys our campuses. If you use your visa to do that, we will take your visa back. I encourage every country to do the same.”

The US Senator continued, “If you lie to get a visa, and then engage in this type of behavior after arriving here, we will cancel your visa. And when your visa is canceled, you are no longer legally in the US. Like any country, we have the right to deport you. It’s that simple.”

The Senator also announced that the visas of approximately 300 students had been similarly canceled.

Rubio asked, “It would be madness, even stupidity, for a country to let in people who say, ‘I’m going to go to your universities and start riots, occupy libraries, harass people.’ I don’t care what movement you are part of. Why should we accept that?”

Rubio said that individuals could carry out such actions “in their own countries, but not in the US.”

Last year, mass student protests occurred at many universities across the US to protest the administration’s support for Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

It is alleged that Ozturk, whose student visa was canceled, participated in “pro-Hamas” movements.

Rumeysa Ozturk’s lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai, noted in a written statement to BBC Turkce that she was first able to speak with the young woman on the evening of March 27.

Referring to the moments of her client’s detention, the lawyer stated, “Nothing in this video indicates they were law enforcement officers or which agency they were from. This situation should deeply concern everyone.”

Khanbabai emphasized that Ozturk is a successful doctoral student at Tufts University on a Fulbright scholarship and stressed that the allegations of her being a Hamas supporter were “baseless.”

Video footage of Ozturk’s detention showed the doctoral student being surrounded by plainclothes officials on the street while heading to iftar.

The officials subsequently handcuffed Ozturk behind her back and led her to a vehicle.

In a written statement shared with BBC Turkce, Tufts University said, “We are in contact with the authorities. We hope Rumeysa will be given the opportunity to clear her name using her legal rights.”

Minister of Justice Yilmaz Tunc declared in his statement that he strongly condemned the detention, arguing the incident was “proof that there is no freedom of thought in so-called democratic countries and that human rights are not respected.”

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel also condemned the detention, stating in his post that “hundreds of students in Turkey arrested groundlessly and unscrupulously are experiencing the same victimization.”