University publishes vacancy notice including names of those set to be appointed

RİZE - Hürriyet

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University has stated that the notes on the ad were included by mistake. DHA photo

A routine advertisement published via Turkey’s official Directorate General of Press Advertisement on newly opened positions at Rize’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University has caused a huge scandal, as it mistakenly included the names of the academics who were set to be chosen by the board.
 
The notice included a table with the six posts indicating the faculties where a new associate professor position had been opened. However, the final column, which was reserved for the criteria required for the post, contained the notes of the board due to a error by those preparing the advertisement.
 
The error revealed that the university’s board had, in fact, already determined the six names for each post that the notice was advertising.
 
For the post at the Medical faculty, the box contained the name of Ahmet Pergel with the remark “He didn’t get the associate professor degree, to be asked.” Three other names contained the same “to be asked” note, while a note for an assistant professor in physics, Murat Tomakin, stated “Doesn’t have an authorization.”
 
General Secretary of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) Beyazıt İlhan said the ad indicated the extent of arbitrary appointments in universities. 
 
“Those who will be appointed to the positions in the ad are determined by those who put it on the newspaper. We are against the appointment of doctors who do not work at the universities or train students as professors. But the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University is one of those universities that does this frequently,” he said, calling on President Abdullah Gül and Turkey’s Higher Education Board (YÖK) to take action.
 
“Preferential appointments have never been done so overtly. This is shameful for the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University. I invite all of our universities and academics to stand against such arbitrary practices,” he said.
 
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, meanwhile, simply stated that the notes on the ad were included by mistake.