Tekin: Sayıştay chief auditor received procedurally improper price letter from DMO

Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin answered lawmakers' questions and criticisms during deliberations on his ministry's 2027 budget in the TBMM Plan and Budget Committee; he described the claims by Yeni Parti Istanbul MP Suat Özçağdaş regarding the Sayıştay audit as a "trap" and a "set-up."

Tekin began his speech by offering condolences for the 4 soldiers martyred when an S-70 type helicopter crashed in Malatya.

Responding to Özçağdaş's claim that "Sayıştay identified corruption in the Ministry of National Education's procurement of goods but did not do what was required," Tekin said Sayıştay audits public budgets and accounts on behalf of the TBMM, and that the ministry benefits from Sayıştay in terms of consultancy and guidance when spending the public budget. To the criticism directed at him that he had been "playing dead for 6 days," Tekin replied: "In order not to harm the dignity of an MP, in order not to harm the dignity of a public authority with a history of hundreds of years, of more than 100 years, I did not make this issue a matter of public debate."

The minister stated that in 2023 they removed a province's director of national education from office, and that in 2024 the chief auditor assigned by the Sayıştay Presidency to audit the ministry's accounts was the brother of this director. Recounting that they wrote to the State Supply Office (DMO) four times and received the answer "We do not have these materials in our hands," Tekin claimed that the chief auditor requested a letter from DMO stating that estimated prices could be used as reference prices, and that the letter was issued with the signature of a branch manager. Tekin said, "Mr. Suat, this is a trap, this is a set-up"; he said Sayıştay had decided in favor of a retrial, and that the ministry had made no such application.

Following Tekin's remark that "My leader does not hold rallies in election squares behind corrupt people and thieves like you," an argument broke out in the committee.

Touching also on protocols concluded with foundations and associations, Tekin said, "We do not transfer a single kuruş of public resources to any civil society organization with which we have a protocol in the public sector." Noting that the resources allocated for the construction of the Türkiye Maarif Foundation's school buildings abroad and for personnel expenses stood at 9 billion lira, and that the amount transferred to international organizations was 429 million 393 thousand lira, Tekin said, "Therefore, within the 9.5 billion lira, not a single kuruş of resources has been transferred to any civil society organization." Tekin said that the Ministry had no intervention in the PISA sample determination and that the issue they attach the most importance to in MESEMs is occupational health and safety measures.