Özgür Özel’s reaction to the diploma issue: ‘Fatih would have thought twice before moving the ships’

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel visited the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TÜRKONFED). Making statements regarding the agenda, Özel said, "They cannot find the Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) at a university that has been here since the day Istanbul was conquered. If Fatih had seen that Istanbul University would be in the hands of people who would give this answer, he would have thought twice before moving the ships. He would have asked, 'Is it worth it?'" 

Özel stated the following: 

"The point we have reached as a result of an operation that looks legal but is political is clear. Those who should not have to pay any price, the SMEs that carry this country on their backs, have had to resort to concordat and downsizing as a result of the tightening of loans, even when they have growth needs and we need the employment they will create. The country's way out lies in the rule of law and democracy. Turkey does not deserve this. The workers they pay salaries to when they can no longer work, produce, or sell do not deserve this. 

In this process, where detention pending trial, which should be an exception, has become the rule, we believe that non-custodial trials and the transparent broadcasting of these trials on television channels are extremely important. 

'PERCEPTION MANAGEMENT'

This issue of diploma cancellation, which devalues every document in Turkey in the eyes of the world—not just the diploma itself, but also title deeds and treasury bonds through it—must be resolved as quickly as possible, and an environment must be created in Turkey where the documents that the state guarantees with its word are valid forever. 

Hundreds of inspectors have been examining these documents in all our municipalities for years. Perhaps the indictment that the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office is expected to write as soon as possible is to take one of those documents and examine it in a real sense. The examination period of one of them exceeds the expected indictment period. The state has countless experts, and creating suspicion as if they are doing something new now because they cannot find documents in files that have already been examined is not a legal investigation, but rather a form of perception management. 

'HE WOULD HAVE THOUGHT TWICE'

They are requesting files from the IMM. We send 600 files, and when it's too many, they say, 'Is it from 2019 onwards?' If there is corruption, does it have a party? Why since 2019? Even if there is corruption committed in 2018, the gentleman doesn't care. Why? Because the person governing in 2018 is not a presidential candidate. 

Leaving aside the fact that the master's degree diploma is still visible in the system, they even listed the Dean of the Galatasaray University Faculty of Business Administration as a high school graduate in that list. What is the professor's crime? Being in the same class as the future president. What will happen after this? What will happen if the master's degree diploma stays in the system? What will happen if it doesn't? They couldn't serve the notification, they said they didn't know the address. They cannot find the Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) at a university like Istanbul University, which has been here since 1453, that is, since the day Istanbul was conquered. If Fatih had seen that Istanbul University would be in the hands of people who would give this answer, he would have thought twice before moving the ships. He would have asked, 'Is it worth it?'"

News Source: 12punto