Morphou, Cyprus. The north’s ‘parliament speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler was accused in court testimony on Monday of lawbreaking linked to the ongoing “fake diploma scandal” involving the Turkish Cypriot higher education sector.
Testimony in Fatma Unal trial
Ozturkler’s name was raised during the latest hearing in the trial of Fatma Unal, described as a longtime close personal associate of ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel, amid allegations that she received a degree from Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University (KSTU) in Morphou under false pretences.
Serdal Gunduz, KSTU’s former secretary-general, who was sentenced in November to 15 years in prison for his role in the scandal, appeared as a witness in the Morphou court and made the accusation.
Alleged contact and enrolment request
Gunduz told the court that in 2021 Ozturkler, then a high-ranking civil servant in the ‘education ministry’, contacted him and asked him to arrange for Unal to be enrolled in a master’s programme at KSTU with a full scholarship.
He said that two or three days later Ozturkler sent him a copy of Unal’s bachelor’s degree and identity card, which Gunduz then forwarded to another member of staff at the university.
Degree certificate timing and alleged pressure
Gunduz said Unal called him in 2022 to ask when her degree certificate would be printed, and that he told her the matter would be handled by the university’s vice rector Serdal Isiktas.
He testified that a few days later Ozturkler, by then appointed as the north’s ‘interior minister’, called him and said Unal “is a valuable and influential person within the UBP,” the largest party in the north’s ruling coalition to which Ozturkler belongs, and that “the process must be expedited”.
Gunduz said he told Ozturkler that printing degrees was not within his authority, and that Ozturkler replied by saying that applications for ‘TRNC’ citizenship made by Isiktas and his wife were “ahead” of his own.
Request to print certificate quickly
Gunduz said that after the call he contacted the university’s head of student affairs and asked that the degree certificate “be printed quickly”, and that following consultations with other university employees, June 2022 was suggested.
He said the student affairs office head Gokce Unal pushed back, but that he insisted the matter “could not wait” because there were people involved who “could not be refused” and he was “under pressure”.
What do you think the court will make of the claims about political influence on university degree processing?
