Documents expose plot to hold Hizmet responsible for KPSS cheating


Date posted: January 21, 2015

The Zaman daily has published documents which reveal that a plot was devised to unjustly hold the members of the Hizmet Movement responsible for a cheating scandal at the State Personnel Examination (KPSS) in 2010.

The allegations of cheating first emerged in August 2010 after more than 3,227 people answered most or all of the questions on the KPSS correctly, a first in Turkey. The unprecedented success led to claims that some of the candidates had either cheated during the test or obtained the questions ahead of time. Some of the most successful candidates were either married to each other or were friends living in the same house. Claims emerged that a copy of the KPSS questions had been obtained before the exam day and that they had been shared among thousands of candidates.

Although no progress have been made in the investigation in the past five years, the government has recently ordered the Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM), an institution administering nationwide examinations in Turkey, to examine claims of cheating in 2010. The move raised concerns that the government, which has been waging a war against the Hizmet movement, aims to use the cheating scandal to frame the movement as being involved in an illegal activity.

The Zaman daily on Saturday published documents revealing that the plot against Hizmet was planned back in 2010. As part of the investigation launched into the scandal, Berat K. who works at a Hizmet-affiliated association and Baki S., who allegedly received the questions from Berat K. beforehand, were detained.

The computers at the association were seized as part of the investigation but experts found no trace of the questions although Baki S. said in his testimony that Berat K. had sent him the questions via e-mail. Berat K. denied the accusations.

After five years, the computers were re-examined by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) following a major reshuffle at the council by the government and the questions were found in the new examination.

However, a 2010 criminal report by Gendarmerie General Command’s Criminal Investigation Department obtained by Zaman revealed that the questions were recorded in Baki S.’s computer five days before the exam, refuting his claims that he had received the questions via e-mail from Berat K.

The name of the file containing the questions also adds to suspicions over a plot against Hizmet. The file is named “3227,” exactly the same number with the number of test takers who answered more than 100 questions correct in the exam.

The fact that the number of people who would score high points in the exam was known beforehand raises questions. However, many test takers said during their testimony that they received higher points than they expected. After it emerged shortly after the exam that answer sheets were destroyed by ÖSYM, claims were voiced that answer sheets had been falsified.

Since a major corruption investigation launched in December of 2013, which implicated government ministers and then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s inner circle, Erdoğan has declared a “war” against Hizmet. He insulted members of the faith-based movement numerous times and directed serious accusations at them. He invented the term “parallel structure” to refer to followers of the Hizmet movement that was inspired by Gülen, particularly followers within the state bureaucracy.

Erdoğan, now president, and the government framed the corruption investigation as a “plot against his government” by the Hizmet movement and foreign collaborators. He held members of the movement responsible for many negative developments in Turkey although he has so far failed to prove his claims.

Source: Today's Zaman , January 17, 2015


Related News

Politically motivated police raid of kindergarten in west Turkey

The witch hunt against the opponents of the government continues and is growing. In another instance of a government-orchestrated operation targeting the faith-based Gülen movement, popularly known as the Hizmet movement, the police along with inspectors conducted raids around 6 am on Tuesday at dozens of institutions owned by the Yamanlar Educational Institutions, which was established by volunteers of the movement in the western province of İzmir.

Turkish schools are being closed down

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu stated he had ordered the closure of Turkish schools in 160 countries, arguing that the officials of those schools had sent letters to the leaders of foreign countries in which they complained about the Turkish government. The closure of these schools is a serious step, but the reason for the closure is not based on real evidence.

President Gül inaugurates Turkish school in Kenya

ÜNAL AYDIN President Abdullah Gül attended the inauguration of a Turkish school in Nairobi on Saturday, where he traveled last week to improve political and economic relations between Turkey and Africa. The inauguration of Işık Lisesi (Light High School), which accepted its first students last year, was attended by President Gül, his wife, Hayrünnisa, and […]

Islamic Renaissance in the Contemporary World

Dr. Muzaffar K. Awan April 2006 On November 12th and 13th, 2005 during a two-day international symposium at Rice University in Houston, Texas, I personally witnessed a Turkish Muslim intellectual’s contributions to the welfare of humanity being appreciated at the helm of an academic attention, and through debates of global scale. The symposium was attended […]

Gov’t reshuffling justice system to punish Hizmet

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, in what many consider an attempt to take revenge on the faith-based Hizmet movement, has been reworking the justice system in Turkey — shutting down certain courts, establishing new ones and quickly assigning some prosecutors and judges to deal with certain cases — which is diametrically opposed to the principles of law.

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

Yusuf Özmen, a cancer patient who has been sentenced to 8 years, 9 months in prison due to his alleged links to the Gülen movement, has recently been sent back to prison after the supreme court of appeals upheld the prison sentence.

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Ishak Alaton: Fethullah Gülen is the most “other” in Turkey

Gülen says paying price for not supporting Erdoğan’s desire for presidential system

Former intel chief calls for use of ASALA, MOSSAD tactics to kill Gülen followers

Opposition up in arms over Erdoğan’s badmouthing of Turkish schools abroad during visit to Ethiopia

Erdoğan’s parallel state (1)

Kimse Yok Mu extends helping hand to Haitian orphans

From Islamophobia to ‘Hizmet-phobia’

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News