'Police entrance interview results marked in pencil to be manipulated by Minister Soylu'

Duvar English

In a column on April 21, journalist Tolga Şardan from online news outlet T24 wrote about the allegations detailing how interview results for police entrance exams were manipulated and how Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu was effective in this process.

Şardan wrote that every candidate is evaluated based on three criteria: the Public Personnel Election Exam (KPSS) result counts as 25 percent of the total mark, the physical and sports exam counts as 25 percent; and the interview counts as 50 percent.

He said that 180,000-200,000 people on average apply for a police entrance exam for which only 10,000 candidates are usually accepted.

He said that the interview commission writes the candidates’ performance and grades them accordingly in pencil. “And how are the results recorded after being obtained through the average of three exams of the candidate? Yes, you guessed it, again with pencil!” Şardan wrote.

These draft lists including the candidates’ marks are then sent to the Interior Ministry and “analyzed by the current Minister Süleyman Soylu,” he wrote. Soylu then “evaluates” the candidates himself, using the notes given to him, and then the lists are sent back to the Police Academy once again.

“There is no deadline for Minister Soylu’s evaluation. Sometimes the lists stay at the ministry for months. And at that stage, interview marks that were given by the exam commissions are being revised!” the journalist wrote.

“At the end, the interview marks are being changed, and exam results take their final shape.”

Several reports published previously have shown how nepotism has thrived under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), exposing the names of relatives and friends of AKP members who either bypassed the interview or KPSS to get public jobs and climbed the public service ladder.

Şardan also wrote that the candidates received their final grades in documents written in pen.