A new scandal is dogging the University of Ankara after a new rector was appointed by YOK, the Higher Education Council. A series of cleansing operations in the last 6 days, the AKP rector İbiş was quickly cleared of all charges by prosecutors appointed by the same government

A new scandal is dogging the University of Ankara after a new rector was appointed by YOK, the Higher Education Council.  The appointment is purely political and comes at the heels of the last wave of purges of dissident academics from the university. As in other government positions, the teaching and research jobs left vacant from firings are filled with stooges loyal only to Erdogan’s government.  More than 120,000 firings have taken place since July last year.

As Turkey slips more into a brutal dictatorship, all institutions are being pulled under the strict rule of the Turkish government of Erdogan, the dictator president. YOK, the Higher Education Council, following partisanship to the letter, found Erkan İbiş, a corrupt loyalist, to lead the University of Ankara. However, the party loyalist is up to his eyeballs under very serious corruption accusations.  But it seems these valid accusations will no longer get in the way of politicizing the university since in a series of cleansing operations in the last 6 days, the AKP rector was quickly cleared of all charges by prosecutors appointed by the same government.

The legal accusations against rector Erkan İbiş ranges from sweetheart deals he signed for the university with corporations his relatives have shares in.  Other charges brought by prosecutors included not revealing his income or wealth, breaking the law against bribery, abusing his authority, declaring fake bankruptcy, and trying to influence judges or prosecutors illegally.

The new rector Erkan İbiş had 11 serious charges levelled against him.  However, after he was appointed to his new position, in a flash review of these charges he was immediately cleared of 7 of the 11.  3 of the remainder charges were also cleared quickly for “lack of evidence.”   However, when the cases were returned to the Higher Education Council the board hid the charges and the cases for 9 months and refused to take any action.

Rector Erkan İbiş became famous when the government wanted to clear the universities from dissidents, especially from the academicians who signed the Declaration of Peace where they openly challenged the criminal attacks Turkey was conducting against its own Kurdish population and cities.  He helped gather the names of dissident and independent academicians who would refuse to declare loyalty to the government.  The list he gathered was used for the latest purges from the universities.

In the original accusation Erkan İbiş’s family is charged with profiting from his conducts in the university.  His wife and relatives hold shares in a corporation, Flavus Skin Esthetics and Health.  In 2013 this corporation signed a business deal with the Saudi German Hospital Group.  Soon, the Saudi German Hospital Group secured a business deal with the university Erkan İbiş was leading.  However, the prosecutors, in an unprecedented operation of cleansing, sent the case back to the Higher Education Council, saying they had no authority to pursue the case.

In a long list of charges, the corrupt rector of University of Ankara, Erkan İbiş is also charged for false bankruptcy.  The case details the business deals the rector was involved when he transferred the assets of a health corporation, Çağ Sağlık Grubu İnş, Tur. Taş. San. Tic. A Ş, to his wife, then declared bankruptcy.  In another corruption charge, the rector transferred 43 real estate units to his wife again from another health corporation in Kizilcahamam, Turkey, only days before he declared bankruptcy.

Of course, the government’s favorite rector rejected all accusations, mainly saying he had nothing to do with the corruption.

On the charges that he influenced the course of legal proceeding in a court of law, he is accused of starting completely unnecessary investigation against the auditors whom he had personal conflicts.  He is also accused of offering university resources to judges and prosecutors to obtain favorable judgements from them. Other accusations of rector includes Erkan İbiş giving positions in the university to those who helped him conceal the corruption charges brought internally against him in the university.  He is accused of saying, “The Higher Education Council is by my side, the Palace (of the Turkish president Erdogan) is behind me.”

Erkan İbiş is also charged with appointing the son of his business partner in the bankruptcy case to a department in the university he oversaw.  His partner in question also served in the university but was brought to assistant rector position after Erkan İbiş was brought to power.  He retired in May 2014 from the university.

Turkish

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