Claims surfaced suggesting that the diplomas, which appeared on the e-Devlet (e-government) platform, were created by hacking into the system of a software company serving universities in Türkiye.

The alleged scheme involved deleting the information of deceased YTÜ graduates and replacing it with that of the individuals purchasing the fraudulent diplomas. These diplomas were then uploaded to e-Devlet, where they appeared legitimate.

Gökmen Çiftçi, founder of Preliz software company which provides support to 101 universities in Türkiye, spoke to daily Hürriyet about the allegations.

“Our system was launched in 2009, and it manages the academic procedures of both foundation and state universities. After a university check and approves the list of graduates, it is sent to YÖKSİS, not from us,” Çiftçi clarified.

He emphasized that there was no breach in their system.