Kastamonu University Faculty of Tourism dean Alptekin Sökmen had his wife, Alev Sökmen, open a special cadre, and had the condition of “doing a doctorate in management information systems and working in management organization” in the posting of the cadre. Dean, who appointed his wife to the staff, was not satisfied with this. He brought his wife, Alev Sökmen, to the Head of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts Department on February 14.
According to the report of Gerçek Gündem, although he has been in the faculty management for one and a half years, Sökmen has recruited eight more people, including his wife, in this process, emphasizing his close relationship with new recruits at every opportunity, bringing them to administrative positions such as assistant dean and department chair.
Stating that although there are faculty members who completed their doctorate years ago in the faculty staff, the research assistants said that they were not given a position and said, “During the same period and in the same announcement, Hasan Evrim Arıcı and Nagihan Çakmakoğlu Beekeeper couple and their spouse were recruited to the faculty by opening a private staff. He took two more in the last month. There are others in the faculty who completed their doctorate 3-4 years ago and have not been given a staff for two years. These people are not vacant, but the dean recruits people from outside according to his wishes.”
On the other hand, university staff, dean Alptekin Sökmen, who wrote the book “Professional Ethics”, made all the decisions in the speeches of Kastamonu University Rector Prof. Dr. He tells that he bought it with Ahmet Hamdi Topal’s approval and said that he was behind the rector.
Mobbing against academics and civil servants in the faculty
According to the allegations of the university staff, dean Alptekin Sökmen, using his wife, department head Alev Sökmen, and his relatives whom he appointed as administrators, open arbitrary investigations or threaten individuals directly against the academic and administrative staff that he cannot get their jobs done through threats. The dean, who insulted the staff working as his private secretary in public, accused another officer of being a member of a terrorist organization and changed his place of duty. Many people, who could not stand the dean’s mobbing in just one and a half years, resigned and moved to different institutions.
Stating that they have been exposed to mobbing for a long time, faculty members said that everyone in the school complained about the dean:
“It is a pity for both students and academics. There are many people in the school who complained about Alptekin Sökmen, we witnessed some of them personally, but people can be passive in seeking their rights. They scare and intimidate people.”
Forcing students to falsely testify
Stating that the head of the department, Alev Sökmen, forced the students who were shown as witnesses in arbitrary investigations at the faculty to give perjury through pressure and threats, the research assistants said, “Students complained about this situation to the university administration with their statements and voice recordings, but no action was taken. Instead of starting an investigation on the incident, the Rectorate sent the students’ personal information and written statements that they wanted to be kept confidential to the Dean’s Office. Alptekin Sökmen and Alev Sökmen, whom the rector referred to as ‘my red line’, also covered the issue.”
Yücebıyıklar Mansion became the mansion of the dean and his wife
The faculty member, who claimed that the restaurant and guesthouse in the faculty and the Yücebıyıklar Mansion, which is the Application and Research Unit of the faculty, were used outside of its purpose, continued his words as follows:
“The historical mansion donated by a benefactor for students to practice is used outside of its purpose. In the mansion, the dean and his wife come together with the political administrators of the province to gain influence rather than being interested in educational activities. They’ve turned a non-profit into a for-profit, and they’re running it by hand. Foreigners come to Yücebıyıklar Mansion unofficially. They say that the ticket of the meals served here should be written in the name of Alev Sökmen, as if they were their guests.”
University employees, who stated that the mansion, which is only open to the service of university personnel, was used for other than its purpose, and that entertainment organizations were organized especially for familiar people, claimed that dean Sökmen and his wife, head of the department, Alev Sökmen, made irregularities by deducting the bills of sales made in this tax-exempt unit on behalf of the research assistants. In fact, it was stated that the teams from the Ministry of Finance had come to the inspection and warned, but the dean and his wife did not take the warnings seriously and continued to be irregular.
A lecturer from Kastamonu University, who did not want his name to be given, said, “The friends who voiced their complaints about Alptekin Sökmen are telling the truth. Alptekin Sökmen came to the faculty later. He took his wife with him. The former department head, Canan Tanrısever, was dismissed and the dean’s wife, Alev Sökmen, was appointed as the head of the department. They also use Shining Yıldız Konekevi and Yücebıyıklar Mansion for private purposes. The rector is aware of all this,” he said.