Turkish University President Arrested Amid Allegations of Corruption

According to the Turkish Daily News, Turkish academic circles are up in arms against the arrest of Van's Yüzüncü Yıl University rector Dr. Yücel Aşkın on charges of corruption.

The arrest came last Friday evening, following the university president's management of a tender (competitive bid) for $25 million-worth of medical equipment. The Van 4th Criminal Court accused "Aşkın, his deputy Ayşe Yüksel, and two other university employees of forming a criminal gang and using threats and coercion to corrupt a tender."

Financial police had raided Aşkın's home and had seized his huge collection of historical art effects. Aşkın, who was in Azerbaijan at the time, had said the collection was regularly registered at the local museum.

Middle East Technical University Rector Professor Ural Akbulut said the bid which Aşkın has been accused of rigging was arranged before Aşkın was the rector. "However, he received the equipment and there were problems with documents. Saying that he prepared false papers would be wrong," said Akbulut.

Blogcritics reader Haluk Direskeneli pointed out that some of Aşkın's collection of archaeological artifacts were damaged in the seizure following his arrest. "They collected the archeological artifacts, while demolishing most of them while the purpose was to protect," he wrote, adding: "I feel that the population in city of VAN does not deserve to have an university in their home city."
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