Samsun's first university was Ondokuz Mayıs University founded in 1975. The second university established in Samsun was "Canik Basari University", which started education as a private university in 2012. It was one of the educational institutions closed in 2016 following the attempted coup d'état, due to its affiliation to the Gülen movement, and its students and their rights to use physical structures were transferred to Ondokuz Mayıs University. Upon this, the Politicians in the city, Professional associations and Non-governmental organizations called for the establishment of a new public university to replace the closed university.