TAM Party leader Serdar Denktaş launched a sweeping attack on the ruling UBP government, the Supreme Election Board (YSK) and the fallout from the fake diploma case during an appearance on the Özgür Web TV programme 'Özgür Yorum'. "This country has never witnessed such disgraceful governance — never," he declared.
Addressing what he described as attacks on journalists in the courthouse grounds following the fake diploma verdict, Denktaş criticised police and prosecutors for failing to act. "Every assault in a courthouse courtyard is a criminal offence. If police and the prosecutor's office have not intervened, it means someone is providing protection," he said, stressing that courthouse premises are inviolable.
Denktaş warned that North Cyprus universities have suffered severe reputational damage internationally. He recounted that young party members who graduated from the university at the centre of the diploma scandal said they were met with suspicion when they mentioned their alma mater. To address the crisis, he proposed establishing a separate Ministry of Higher Education and Technology alongside a new Ministry of Youth, Sport and the Environment. "We once had a university ranked as high as 650th in the world — where do we stand now?" he asked.
On electoral integrity, Denktaş said he had no confidence in digitally produced YSK results unless full transparency was guaranteed, pointing to claims of a roughly 3,000-vote discrepancy between manual ballots and digital tallies in the UBP leadership congress. "Where there is a dispute, the YSK must intervene," he insisted.
Denktaş also rejected the UBP's claim that only they could secure Turkish support for North Cyprus, calling the stance demeaning to Turkey. He argued that Turkish Cypriots are strategically important to Turkey regardless of which party governs, and that the current administration was eroding the historically strong bonds between the two communities.
