Ulaş Barış writes..."Fake Diploma Scandal is not a Simple Matter..."

Recently, my column has sparked great controversy in some circles. The most important point I made there was about the imminent expiration of the tenure of Deputy Director of Police, Ahmet Beşerler, who is overseeing the diploma investigation, and how an extension proposal was submitted six months ago. My claim was that this tenure was not extended due to the government dragging its feet, possibly because some people did not appreciate his diligence.

As it turns out, it was not extended.

As of last evening, the deputy directors of the police have been retired due to age. I believe that whoever takes Beşerler's place in leading the investigation will work with the same diligence. Of course, only time will tell.

However, this diploma issue is not solely the responsibility of the police. The blame cannot be placed entirely on them.

This involves various sectors ranging from the government to high-level bureaucracy, military, academics, and even extends to Turkey and Iran.

Investigating all of this is not only the responsibility of the police but also of the prosecutors. Let me refrain from mentioning the government, but especially the opposition in the parliament is duty-bound to follow up on this issue.

Of course, the press also has a responsibility to enlighten the public. However, this should be done responsibly, without spreading unverified information.

Apart from all of this, there is also the angle of the Higher Education Planning, Evaluation, Accreditation, and Coordination Council (YÖK).

As you know, a high-level delegation from YÖK came to the island earlier this week due to the scandal. This visit was not at our invitation. I wrote about this the other day and stand by my claim.

This delegation has been attending various high-level meetings for the past three days.

It is said that the Deputy Chairman of YÖK, the new president of YÖDAK, another high-ranking official from YÖK, and the Turkish Ambassador held an important meeting.

According to what I've heard, instead of the new president of YÖDAK, the ambassador spoke on behalf of the Turkish Cypriots. This is 'normal'; perhaps because the new president is still inexperienced!

Without dwelling on this point, let's look at what was discussed in the meeting. Out of a total of 22 universities in the TRNC, 17 are accredited by YÖK, while the other 5 are not.

One of the proposed ideas is to accredit these 5 universities and all the unaccredited departments of the other 17 universities under YÖK. This way, all diplomas issued by these institutions will be under control. Thus, a TRNC area within the system will be created, and a server space will be rented for this purpose.

I say "will be" because there hasn't been an official announcement yet.

However, if we look at the history of relations between these two institutions, we can clearly see that some signed protocols are not fully implemented.

For example, if we look at the newspapers from June 25, 2014, we see a headline: "YÖK to Supervise Universities in Cyprus."

Now, looking at the current situation, we can say that either these supervisions were not carried out or were not deemed necessary.

On the other hand, a protocol was signed between YÖDAK, an autonomous institution under YÖK, and the Higher Education Quality Board (YÖKAK) on July 30, 2021, to further improve the quality of universities. The purpose of this protocol was stated as aiming to advance the quality of universities.

In the current situation, allegations of diplomas being obtained for money within a day and bribery allegations against top YÖDAK officials are flying around. This certainly doesn't reflect an advancement in quality!

Furthermore, in September last year, a meeting was held at YÖKAK with the participation of the President of YÖK. One of the important agenda items was the accreditation issues of TRNC universities. It was stated after the meeting that this would be resolved quickly, but there has been no progress on that front.

Just like the visit of the President of YÖDAK to Ankara last August, where he made grand statements but nothing concrete came out of it...

Yesterday, after the high-level meetings, an announcement was made by YÖK itself, and again, the same empty words were uttered. But we are already fed up with these words...

In short, YÖK has not done much for TRNC universities to progress.

In fact, I believe that YÖK sees the developing university sector in the TRNC as a significant competitor to the rapidly growing university sector in Turkey.

Today, YÖK is forcing TRNC universities to provide substantial scholarships to students coming from Turkey. These scholarships go up to 75%!

As someone who has repeatedly mentioned and written about this reality, TRNC students are paying more tuition fees than students coming from Turkey. If there are other examples of this in the world, please let us know!

On the other hand, what does a university do when it cannot generate enough income? It seeks out new markets for itself. Then what happens? Opportunists step in and set up a human trafficking scheme! This is where the African market has ended up!

What else does it do? It starts giving out fake diplomas to make money and ends up on the wrong path!

So, in short, the fake diploma issue should not be considered just a scandal.

Especially, we should not fall for nonsense like "oh, we couldn't manage it again." This is not just a matter of incompetence.

Because there is not so much a problem of "not being able to manage" but rather a problem of "not wanting to be managed."

A state that manages itself and stands on its own feet becomes free and independent.

A state like the TRNC, which is even considered a subordinate authority in decisions by the European Court of Human Rights, cannot afford such a luxury.

Those who don't know this will eventually understand...