The north’s ‘parliament speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler faced a barrage of criticism from members of the opposition on Tuesday, being called upon to resign and called both a liar and a fraud after he had been accused in court on Monday of conspiring to pressure employees of a university to issue degree certificates under false pretences.
CTP ‘MP’ Erkut Sahali was the first to call on Ozturkler to relinquish his duties, saying the “fake diploma scandal”, which has engulfed the north’s higher education system in recent years, has “cast suspicion on all universities and damaged the reputation of the TRNC”.
He argued that Ozturkler’s promise on Monday that if substantial allegations are brought, he would resign and waive the immunity from prosecution, is “insufficient in the face of an allegation made by a witness who gave sworn testimony before a judge”.
“This statement was made in court by a person acting as a witness for the prosecution and under the guarantee of the chief public prosecutor’s office. It cannot be dismissed as mere slander,” he said.
He then added that if Ozturkler continues in his current role, he could be considered to be “in a position to influence the outcome of the case” in which the accusation was made against him, and argued that even Tuesday’s session at the Turkish Cypriot legislature “cannot be considered to be without risk, given the claim”.
“These allegations, along with events which have occurred and will occur, will lead to many more names being discussed in the public sphere. Ozturkler has an obligation to take the necessary steps and reach a conclusion on this matter. This process is not something which can be tolerated or digested,” he said.
He added that in the north’s chain of command, the ‘parliament speaker’ of the day undertakes the responsibilities of the Turkish Cypriot leader of the day when the latter leaves Cyprus, and said that “managing the parliament of the republic is an extremely responsibility”.
“We respect the presumption of innocence, but the allegations and statements made by a witness brought by the chief public prosecutor’s office constitute reasonable suspicion, as far as we concerned. Therefore, Ziya Ozturkler has a responsibility to resign from his position. There is no escaping this. The title he holds is far too serious,” he said.
Ozturkler responded in kind, saying that his lawyer has “filed a criminal complaint” against the witness who made the accusation, former secretary-general of Morphou’s now infamous Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University (KSTU) Serdal Gunduz, before pointing out that Gunduz was last year jailed for his part in the fake diploma scandal.
“Are we going to act based on the reputation of someone who received a 15-year jail sentence and has been convicted on hundreds of counts? I have openly stated what I will do if there is proof and a criminal complaint regarding what was alleged against me,” he said.
He then asked, “has any crime been attributed to me of which I am unaware?”, and “do you know something I do not?”.
‘Finance minister’ Ozdemir Berova then moved to defend Ozturkler, saying that “an attack operation is being carried out” against him, and promising that the ruling coalition has “not interfered in any way with the investigations and inquiries conducted by the police” regarding the fake diploma scandal.
“The statements about Ziya Ozturkler which were made in court will, of course, be investigated by the police. If anything emerges which could constitute an accusation of a crime, it will be evaluated, but ultimately, discussing such matters in parliament is not the right approach at all,” he said.
His words did little to deter the CTP’s Dogus Derya, however.
She described Ozturkler as “a person who exploited the academic process and failed to take the necessary actions, who is therefore tainted with suspicion”, before returning to accusations she had made 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.
“Ozturkler’s name also appeared on the list of academic staff at the KSTU, which came to the public’s attention for allegedly distributing fake diplomas. You are creating the impression that someone came out of the sky and slandered you. However, since you did nothing regarding the accusations of plagiarism which were reported in the newspapers, this suspicion is reasonable,” she said.
In this, she was making reference to accusations printed in some media outlets in recent years that Ozturkler had plagiarised part of his own doctorate thesis.
She then echoed Sahali’s sentiments from earlier in the session that Ozturkler’s continued presence in his current position is “detrimental to the legislature’s reputation”.
Ozturkler then replied once more, saying to Derya that “you are making an accusation but you are not investigating it”, and insisting that no part of his thesis was plagiarised, saying that the articles he had been accused of plagiarising were printed after he had graduated.
As such, he said, the academic journal in which the articles had been printed apologised to him and removed the publications, saying that the articles which had appeared subsequently “were created using my name and subsequently removed”, and that they had been “confused” with his own.
Derya was less than convinced, retorting, “is this how you found a way to cover it up?”, prompting a terse reply from Ozturkler.
“Is that so, Dogus? Should I now take to the dais and say what has been said about you? Should I then talk about your past? There is no need to get ugly,” he said.
Derya then responded again, saying, “you are the ugly one! You are a liar, a fraud, and you took bribes! There are videos of it!”.
The CTP’s Fide Kursat also called on Ozturkler to resign, but first offered criticism for the ruling coalition at large.
“Has this parliament ever experienced such corruption, such disrepute, such a dark period? The Ustel government will go down in Turkish Cypriot political history as a black mark,” she said, before later addressing Ozturkler directly.
“Now, resign, step aside, and clear the way for the public and the judiciary.”
Filiz Besim, also of the CTP, also demanded that Ozturkler resign.
“If a politician has a stain on their reputation, they should say, ‘I am resigning from my position until I am cleared. I will be tried, I will serve my sentence if I am guilty, and if I am not, I will return to my position having been cleared’. That is the right thing to do. Clean politics,” she said.
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