Turkey: Preliminary report over civil servant exam scandal compiled

A preliminary report about the civil servant exam scandal in Turkey assured that three questions were exactly the same as the ones published earlier in a test book by Yediiklim Publishing House and 10 more were similar.

The answers choices and the layout of three questions in the KPSS (Public Personnel Selection Test) were also exactly the same, the report said.

The editor of the publishing house called the resemblance a mere coincidence. 

The KPPS, attended by one million and six hundred thousand people was cancelled after the allegations of fraud created a public outrage.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan already sacked the head of OSYM (Measuring, Selection and Placement Center), a government body responsible for coordinating the exam and police are on the hunt to find evidence for any possible connections between OSYM and Yediiklim. 

KPSS is already a sensitive issue in Turkey with a history of fraud by interest groups.

In 2010, the exam questions and answer keys were stolen by the Gulen movement and handed out to its members who were then placed in the critical state bodies.

The test scandal churned Turkey, where many youngsters’ only hope is to take refuge in a public office by securing a good mark in KPSS. Mustafa Balbay, a columnist in Cumhuriyet said that OSYM allegedly provided three thousand candidates all the answers of the test while 

Umit Ozdag, a controversial rightist politician proposed to attach OSYM to the Chamber of Butchers, because it butchered the dreams of youth.