North ‘parliament speaker’ accused of lawbreaking in fake diploma trial

The north’s ‘parliament speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler was on Monday accused of lawbreaking during a court case relating to the ongoing “fake diploma scandal” which has engulfed the Turkish Cypriot higher education sector in recent years.

His name was mentioned during the latest hearing into the trial of Fatma Unal, a longtime close personal associate of ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel, with it alleged that Unal received her degree from the now infamous Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University (KSTU) in Morphou under false pretences.

Serdal Gunduz, the university’s now former secretary-general, who was in November handed a 15-year jail sentence for his role in the scandal, appeared as a witness in court in Morphou on Monday, and it was he who made the accusation.

He told the court that Ozturkler, then a high-ranking civil servant in the ‘education ministry’, had contacted him in 2021 asking that he arrange for Unal to be enrolled in a master’s programme at KSTU and given a full scholarship,

Two or three days later, he said, Ozturkler sent him a copy of Unal’s bachelor’s degree and identity card, which he then forwarded to another member of staff at the university.

Later in the hearing, he said that Unal had called him in 2022 asking when her degree certificate would be printed, and that he had told her that the matter would be handled by the university’s vice rector Serdal Isiktas.

He then said that Ozturkler, who had by then been appointed as the north’s ‘interior minister’, had called him a few days later, saying that 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 for this reason, “the process must be expedited”.

He said he had told Ozturkler that matters of printing degrees were not within his authority, and that Ozturkler had replied by telling him that applications for ‘TRNC’ citizenship made by Isiktas and his wife were “ahead” of his own.

After this call, he said, he called 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 had pushed back on the idea, but that he had insisted, saying that the matter “could not wait” as there were people involved who “could not be refused” and he was “under pressure”. 

Following the conclusion of Gunduz’s testimony, the hearing was adjourned, with Unal next set to appear in court on Thursday.

Ozturkler on Monday afternoon denied the accusations made in court, writing in a post on social media that what Gunduz had said was “unfounded, defamatory and does not reflect the truth”.

“During my time in public service, I have never had any contact, suggestion, or telephone conversation with any rector or official regarding the granting of an undeserved diploma or citizenship,” he said.

Monday’s court hearing is not the first time that Ozturkler has been accused of lawbreaking in relation to the “fake diploma scandal”, with opposition party CTP ‘MP’ Dogus Derya having alleged in 2024 that he had been given an envelope stuffed with cash by the City Island University’s owner Talip Emiroglu in a restaurant car park.

“It has been claimed that the money was placed in an envelope in his car boot. It is claimed that the reason for giving it was to help him get permission to open a medical school. The police are obliged to investigate this matter,” Derya said.

Ozturkler vehemently denied the allegations then, too, saying that he had not been handed an envelope stuffed with cash, but a book.