Tatar’s daughter insists diploma is real

Turkish Cypriot Leader Ersin Tatar’s daughter Canev Tatar insisted on Thursday that the diploma she obtained from the now-infamous Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University (KSTU) is real.

Tatar was forced onto the defensive after it emerged that she had received a diploma from the KSTU in 2022 for having taken part in a “pedagogical training programme”, with the KSTU and the north’s higher education sector at large engulfed by crisis in recent weeks.

However, while the KSTU and many attached to it have allegedly been involved in the forgery of diploma certificates, Tatar is adamant her diploma is authentic.

In a Facebook post, she explained that she had graduated from the University of the Arts London in 2015, before writing a number of children’s books between 2016 and 2019.

She added, “after the pandemic period until today, I have been doing various artistic and personal development-oriented activities for both adults and children in my own studio.”

She expressed her “disappointment” at the fact that the KSTU has been “occupying the agenda recently”, saying she had attended the university “with effort and time and trust”.

“While the alleged invalidity of the certificate I received in return for my hard work is on the agenda, essentially, as a citizen, I am suffering just like my other friends who have completed the course properly,” she said.

She added, “I feel very offended and angry at the groundless and unfounded accusations which have been made against me since I am a relative of the President.

“I would like to state that I attended the required courses, presentations, projects, and exams within the framework of the academic year in question.”

She added to her post a set of Whatsapp screenshots containing conversations with other students and teachers regarding classwork, as well as a screenshot of an email sent with a PowerPoint presentation attached as evidence that she had actually been studying at the time.

Other screenshots included of a PowerPoint presentation she had submitted as part of a group project, as well as her degree certificate from the University of the Arts London and her diploma certificate from the KSTU.

Many of the high-profile arrests made regarding the north’s “fake diploma scandal” have been linked to the KSTU.

Former ‘education minister’ Kemal Durust allegedly fraudulently obtained a total of 926,286TL (€27,451) from the KSTU by “pretending to have sold goods and services to the university with 19 invoices belonging to six different companies,” while his wife Meray Durust allegedly obtained a fake diploma from the same university.

The north’s higher education accreditation authority (Yodak) chairman Turgay Avci and former board member Mehmet Hasguler are both accused of having taken bribes while the KSTU’s medical school was applying for accreditation.

Mr and Mrs Durust, Avci, and Hasguler are all currently on bail, with Meray Durust having been appointed to a new public sector role in the meantime.