Statement on 'diploma' from Hulusi Akar's lawyer: 'By board decision...'

A statement has been issued by the lawyer for former Chief of General Staff and AKP Kayseri MP Hulusi Akar regarding allegations concerning his daughter's diploma.  

In the allegations brought to the agenda by journalist İsmail Saymaz regarding Hulusi Akar's daughter's diploma, he wrote that while she was studying biology in the US, she entered and graduated from the Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine despite lacking equivalency, and that the investigation opened nine years later was closed on the grounds of the statute of limitations.

Akar's lawyer, Samet Can Olgaç, stated, "The publications mention that a decision was rendered by the Council of State; however, there is absolutely no Council of State decision regarding the university admission of Mr. Akar's daughter."

Olgaç announced that they would pursue legal action regarding the allegations.

The full statement is as follows: 

"We persistently and categorically reject and condemn the distortions, lies, and slanders that do not align with the facts, which have been put forward by certain so-called political figures and some journalists who lack morality and humanity—who always talk about human rights—by disregarding the achievements and feelings of a young female doctor. The DePaul University Pre-Medical Biology program, which overlaps with the curriculum provided in the first 2 years of the 6-year medical faculty education in Turkey, is a program in the US that includes applied courses and clinical studies where only students who want to enter medical school are accepted. It is completely different from the biology department of a faculty of science and letters or the biology teaching department of faculties of education in Turkey. Mr. Akar's daughter studied in the DePaul University Pre-Medical Biology department for 2 years and completed it with a 4.0 GPA. Following the aforementioned application, an application was made to the university with the information and documents requested for the necessary procedures; it was evaluated and decided upon entirely by the relevant university's academic and scientific board, independent of the individuals, and she was accepted to the Hacettepe University English Faculty of Medicine and successfully completed her education; many other students have also benefited from this legal right.

Despite these facts being known, such baseless, unfounded allegations and comments that constitute a smear campaign and character assassination targeting Mr. Akar and his family do not align with any ethical or moral values, especially the principles of press ethics. They are entirely intended to gain political advantage and mislead the public. Furthermore, the publications mention that a decision was rendered by the Council of State; however, there is absolutely no Council of State decision regarding the university admission of Mr. Akar's daughter.

On the other hand, regarding previous publications on the same subject, the Ankara 3rd Criminal Court of Peace decided to accept the request for a rebuttal with its decision dated May 30, 2023, stating: '...although it was stated in the news that the applicant's daughter was accepted to the Faculty of Medicine by committing diploma fraud despite there being no equivalency between the two departments, upon examination of the request documents, it is seen that the transition process in question was not contrary to the legislation in force at that time, that many other students benefited from this right in a similar way, and that the content of the news in this regard exceeded the nature of 'real news' and fell outside the scope of freedom of the press, and violated personal rights by damaging the reputation of the applicant in the eyes of society, and considering that the publication of responses regarding the accuracy of the news would provide the opportunity for people accessing the publication to obtain information about the subject from a different source...'"

News Source: 12punto