The fact described in the text is that President Christodoulides reiterated his goal of reunifying Cyprus and ensuring a common future for all Cypriots, while Ersin Tatar insisted on Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots living in two separate states.
The Turkish Cypriot community is facing a scandal involving fake university diplomas and corruption, which has now affected the security forces’ command. Lieutenant Colonel Özgür Alp was remanded in custody for using a fake diploma for promotion within the Turkish military. The fake diploma was claimed to be from the Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University in Morphou. A high-ranking police officer, Serif Avcil, was also arrested over a fake diploma. This scandal is part of larger issues involving the KSTU university in Morphou, with allegations of embezzlement and fraud through fake student registrations and diplomas. The university is owned by Levent Uysal, a deputy in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Celebi Ilik, involved in the scandal, used fake diplomas for civil service promotions and is facing charges related to forgery. Uysal attempted to obtain a €45 million loan from Swiss IntaCapital bank with fake documents in 2022 but avoided judicial proceedings by getting elected to parliament in May 2023. Turgay Avci, chairman of the Turkish Cypriot higher education watchdog Yodak, is under investigation for possibly having a fake diploma. There are also allegations against Dunya Baris Universitesi for operating illegally and investigations into irregularities in a real estate purchase by Altinbas Holding. Ali Altınbaş and Sofu Altınbaş were detained in September 2020 for involvement in a fuel profiteering network and accused of establishing a criminal organisation, aggravated fraud, and forgery.