Tatar moves to fire education chief

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar filed a case with the ‘supreme court’ in the north to have the head of higher education committee (Yodak) Turgay Avci fired, it emerged on Friday night.

Speaking to the Tak news agency, Tatar said that he had received complaints from people for not firing Avci, and added that according to the ‘law’ on higher education, Avci’s dismissal is possible only after an evaluation by the ‘court’.

“We could never intend to protect anyone,” he added.

Recalling that after recent developments regarding the Cyprus University of Health and Social Sciences in occupied Morphou, where there were some allegations about Avci, Tatar said he had assessed the issue with his lawyers upon his return to the north from Germany.

The move comes as investigations and arrests as part of the north’s ‘fake diploma scandal’ continue, with Avci and former Yodak board member Mehmet Hasguler being the latest to receive criminal charges.

The pair, who had been suing each other in civil cases, were both arrested on Friday night.

Both were accused of taking under-the-table payments while the now-infamous Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University (KSTU) in Morphou was applying for Yodak accreditation.

They were both charged on Saturday in court in northern Nicosia. Avci did not attend due to being in hospital with high blood pressure.