Turkey: 200 plus suspects named in 2010 exam fraud case

ANKARA

A court in Ankara accepted on Friday an indictment against more than 200 suspects alleged to be involved in fraud during the 2010 civil service recruitment exam (KPSS).

According the indictment prepared by Ankara prosecutor's office, there are 230 suspects and 272 plaintiffs in the case.

Ankara prosecutor Yucel Erkman defined Turkey’s Student Selection and Placement Center (OSYM) and Ministry of Finance as "aggrieved institutes" in the case.

Among the suspects are former chairmen of the OSYM, Unal Yarimagan and Ali Demir, and Istanbul-based Fatih University's former Rector Serif Ali Tekalan.

The indictment demands up to 27-year jail sentence for Yarimagan on charges of "committing a crime on the behalf of the organization while not being a member, disclosing a secret about a duty and forgery of official documents".

Demir faces four years in prison on charges of "destroying, concealing or amending crime evidence".

The suspects, including Tekalan are accused of "founding and managing an armed organization, forgery of official documents, and fraud to the detriment of the institutes, and destroying, concealing or amending crime evidence".

Police launched its first operation in the case in 19 provinces, including the capital Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Eskisehir, Sakarya, Isparta, Sivas, Samsun and Bursa on March 23, during which hundreds of suspects were detained.

In March, the prosecutor's office said a total of 616 suspects, who were allegedly involved in the fraud case, were all current civil service servants on active duty.

The officers were alleged to be “parallel state” members, which the Turkish government accuses of penetrating key positions of responsibility across the country in order to undermine it.

The "parallel state" is designated by the government as a group of Turkish bureaucrats and senior officials embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and the police, who allegedly seek to undermine the current Turkish government.

Turkey’s government says that the clandestine network is run by the U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen.