Fake diploma scandal spreads to Balkan University: It was claimed that AKP's Şentop is the owner

It has been alleged that fake diplomas were issued at the International Balkan University in North Macedonia, which has recently come to the fore over degree equivalency claims.

Former Skopje Ambassador Hakan Okçal made striking statements regarding the Balkan University, which is claimed to be owned by Mustafa Şentop. In his statement, Okçal said, "The painful part is that the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) granted equivalency before the university had even properly established its faculties and departments or met the necessary standards."

Stating that "the allegations that the International Balkan University could be involved in all kinds of schemes, including issuing fake diplomas, did not seem strange to me at all," Okçal made notable posts on his social media account.

"EVERYONE IS ACCEPTED"

Hakan Okçal, who served as the Ambassador to Skopje between 2008 and 2010, claimed that the International Balkan University in North Macedonia was established to provide university diplomas to AKP figures and stated the following:

"The International Balkan University was a hollow 'signboard' university established by the AKP academic cadres of that period, primarily Davutoğlu and Veysel Eroğlu. The money seized in shoeboxes during the 17-25 December process was collected for this institution."

"Everyone who could not pass the entrance exam in Turkey was accepted into the university, and diplomas were given with superficial education without any attendance requirement. The painful part is that YÖK granted equivalency before the university had even properly established its faculties and departments or met the necessary standards."

"MACEDONIAN POLICE RAIDED THE SCHOOL AND ARRESTED THE YOUTH"

Mentioning that YÖK granted irregular equivalency to the university, Okçal said:

"Due to the lack of rules and the tendency to do business without recognizing the laws of the host country by relying on political authority in Turkey, the situation had gone so far that, despite all my warnings, this school had started accepting everyone as students using the tourist visa exemption without even bothering to obtain a student visa from Macedonia.

That is why the Macedonian police once raided the school and arrested all the young people who were accepted as students illegally. I even had an argument with Mr. Davutoğlu because of this.

For this reason, the allegations that the International Balkan University could be involved in all kinds of schemes, including issuing fake diplomas, did not seem strange to me at all."

It had been claimed that former Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop was the owner and honorary president of the International Balkan University, which has come to the fore with irregular equivalency.

RESPONSE FROM ŞENTOP TO THE ALLEGATIONS

As the allegations spread to the North Macedonian university, Şentop found himself in the middle of the claims and responded to the agenda-setting allegations via his social media account:

"The pinnacle of lying and fraud... They report the former ambassador's tweet; our name isn't there, it's not enough; they add our name... In the mentioned years of 2008-2010, we were not in active politics; we were an associate professor at Marmara University Faculty of Law; zero research. They are turning somersaults to link our name. Unfortunately, they walk around calling themselves journalists... The fitting term: Paid operation apparatuses... Let's call it 'alleged'..."