Turkish Cypriot politician vows to close all universities involved in diploma scandal

Turkish Cypriot politician and opposition party leader Zeki Celer said on Sunday he would “close all these university-looking places” in north Cyprus if he came to power.

Zeki Celer, the new leader o the TDP party was speaking to Kuzey Kibris TV in light of investigations and arrests made regarding the “fake diploma scandal” in recent weeks, decrying how “society has become so corrupt”.

He added that one of the main reasons for the forgery of degree certificates is “to satisfy people’s egos or to obtain a higher position,” and that this has come at the cost of an “abandonment of quality in the field of education”.

“The motivation behind the current government and [Ersin Tatar’s] boasting that ‘we have so many universities, we are an education island’ has been revealed. We are already perceived as a haven for human trafficking and dark money, and now education has been added to this,” he said.

He added, “if I came to power tomorrow, I would close all of these university-looking places to save us from being embarrassed in front of the world any more.”

Celer replaced Mine Atli as TDP leader in February. ‘Parliamentary’ elections in the north must be held by February 2027.