Police ‘remove students’ ear piercing with pliers’

Enis TAYMAN

A university student candidate has claimed that police forcefully removed her ear piercing with pliers before an exam in Istanbul on June 15.

The 17-year-old student told the police in her criminal complaint that a policewoman stopped her while she was entering the Ziya Paşa Primary School building, where an Undergraduate Placement Examination session was being held. The officer allegedly warned the student that she could not enter the hall with a metal piercing due to security measures.

When she replied that her ear piercing was not metal, the officer responded by saying that they did not have a metal detector to check. A school manager then forcefully removed her piercing.

“They told me that I could now enter my exam because they had removed the piercing. Because of the shock, I couldn’t say anything and went in. I had problems with focusing, but I did my best,” the student told daily Hürriyet.

While the school managers declined to comment, an official from the Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM) told daily Hürriyet that piercings were not allowed in exams.

“However, if an incident like the removal of a piercing really happened, it would be investigated. We don’t think the officials there would do it, but we will follow it up,” the official said.