Mahmut Tanal challenges YÖK over 'Hulusi Akar's daughter': On what grounds was this permitted?

At the Turkish Parliament's Human Rights Investigation Commission Subcommittee, where the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) gave a presentation on "discrimination," the diploma of Ekrem İmamoğlu and how the daughter of the Chairman of the Turkish Parliament's National Defense Commission and former Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar transferred from the biology department to the faculty of medicine were discussed. 

CHP Şanlıurfa MP Mahmut Tanal, accusing YÖK of discrimination, asked YÖK Deputy President Prof. Dr. Metin Topcuoğlu, “On what grounds did you permit Hulusi Akar's daughter to transfer from biology to the faculty of medicine?” Tanal stated, “We want the same law applied to Hulusi Akar's daughter that is applied to us. Or, apply the law that is applied to us to Hulusi Akar's daughter as well.”

The commission discussed the cancellation of the diploma of CHP's imprisoned Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor and presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, as well as how the daughter of the Chairman of the Turkish Parliament's National Defense Commission and former Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar transferred from the biology department to the faculty of medicine.

In his speech at the commission, CHP Şanlıurfa MP Mahmut Tanal told YÖK officials the following:

"We believe in the impartiality and justice of the state, we want to believe in it, but I will give you an example: if Shepherd Mustafa's son Mahmut came, you would not carry out this practice, and if Mother Emine's child came, you would not do it either. For some reason, in this country, transactions and treatment are carried out according to surnames, and this is done by your hand, by the hand of YÖK. Did you say 'inequality'? This is the height of inequality. Fighting against discrimination? It has nothing to do with it. How do you grant a student studying in the faculty of biology permission to transfer to the faculty of medicine? Hulusi Akar's daughter. Didn't this pass with your signatures? Didn't it pass through YÖK? A student will study biology, and you will allow them to transfer to the faculty of medicine from there. One student will report it, and you will say 'statute of limitations'.

You come, 31 years later... You gave Ekrem İmamoğlu his equivalency, you sent him there. Did my father give it? If YÖK had not deemed it appropriate, would he have enrolled in the faculty of economics in Istanbul? Why couldn't you stand behind the decisions you made? Shouldn't you have stood by them? Shouldn't you have explained it to the public? Maybe your diplomas are fake too, if we do it that way. We need to look into yours as well. I mean, think about it, the diploma of the dean of Galatasaray University, who did his doctorate at the Sorbonne, was cancelled. If there is no legal security in a country, no one will invest. Stability in administration and management is important, and the principle of legal security in law is important. You cancelled and removed your own legitimacy. On what grounds did you permit Hulusi Akar's daughter to transfer from biology to the faculty of medicine? Ekrem Bey's 31-year-old diploma... If there was a mistake, you should have said 'Cancellation' back then. YÖK itself is the one doing the discriminating.”

Upon Subcommittee Chairman Harun Mertoğlu stating that the issue regarding Ekrem İmamoğlu's diploma is currently in the court process, Tanal replied, “It is not a matter for the court, it is a matter for the university. We are fighting against discrimination.”

Responding to questions at the commission, YÖK Deputy President Metin Topcuoğlu, while explaining an issue regarding foreign students, stated, “However, we can easily say this again: I would like to express here in advance that when irregular transactions are detected, that person will not be granted any rights, even if they have graduated.”

"WHY IS IT NOT APPLIED TO EKREM İMAMOĞLU?"

Upon this, Mahmut Tanal asked, “This sentence is very important, a correct sentence: ‘Irregular transactions do not grant rights.’ Well, isn't the transfer from the faculty of biology to the faculty of medicine an irregular transaction? Hulusi Akar's daughter, how did that happen?”

Subcommittee Chairman Mertoğlu intervened, saying, “Mr. Tanal, your point has been recorded, you have said it.” Tanal reacted, “It is a principle of law. You are also a legal professional, but I mean, this transaction does not create rights, so why did it create them for Hulusi Akar here? We talked about the principle of equality; the principle of equality is applied to Hulusi Akar's daughter, so why is it not applied to Ekrem İmamoğlu? As YÖK, you are the ones who will establish equality; you are at the top.”

Subcommittee Chairman Harun Mertoğlu intervened, replying, “Okay, it has been recorded, Mr. Tanal,” but the debate continued. Mahmut Tanal stated, “We want equality on behalf of İmamoğlu, we want it on your behalf, and we want it on behalf of Hulusi Akar's daughter. I mean, it shouldn't be according to the political climate. The universities that should be speaking now are not speaking on this issue. This is our rebellion. Under what conditions will universities speak?”

Upon Mahmut Tanal's insistence, YÖK Deputy President Metin Topcuoğlu spoke as follows:

“Look, I never mentioned the name Ekrem İmamoğlu at all. Transactions that a person has made through their own deception or misleading of the administration do not grant the person any rights with the passage of time. Therefore, regarding those who went to the university you mentioned... We learned this from the research we conducted. It is known that the university in question has no recognition in our country and that it was done consciously... There it is, it emerged, about 20-30 students consciously went there and entered through horizontal transfer to our country, look, not even equivalency, through horizontal transfer, entering from the back door into a brand-name university like Istanbul University, where people fight tooth and nail to get in. I am not saying this specifically about anyone. I believe that it would be useful to make a statement or think about the issue by evaluating these matters, as this issue is known and was told to the students by the founder of the university upon their admission, and the relevant persons have not made any statements to the contrary on this matter.”

Mahmut Tanal asked, “Well, how does a student studying in the biology department transferring to medicine reconcile with this in terms of equivalency?” Tanal said, “We want the law applied to Hulusi Akar's daughter applied to us. Or, apply the law that is applied to us to Hulusi Akar's daughter as well.”

As the arguments dragged on, Metin Topcuoğlu spoke as follows:

“Within the scope of the basic principle I mentioned earlier, if there is no clear deception or fraud by the person against the administration, what we learned from that incident is this: During the time the person was in America as a public official, their daughter was at a higher education institution, and that higher education institution is an institution recognized by our country; the problem there is indeed the transfer from biology to medicine, but for a period, yes, there was such an opportunity for internal horizontal transfer from biology to medicine, and we have abolished that, Mr. MP. Therefore, I cannot say with my current knowledge that these issues can be compared, if one wants to compare the two events. I submit this to your conscience and your current knowledge.”