Debates begin over rector election at Turkey's oldest university

The Higher Education Board (YOK) will submit the short-list of three candidates from the six that gained the highest support in voting among academic staff at Istanbul University, to Turkish President Abdullah Gul for final selection in the coming days.Â

Media reports suggest Yunus Soylet, family doctor of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, and who was elected by Gul as a YOK member, is expected to win the seat. Soylet was placed in second in the academic voting.

The reports suggest three scenarios for the list to be sent to the president.

According to the first scenario, YOK will submit the first three candidates, who gain the most votes in the selection process. Gul will then appoint Ali Akyuz, who won the highest number of votes in order not to draw reaction.

Sources however suggest this option has little chance of being realized.

The second scenario suggests that YOK will exclude Akyuz from the list and submit the names of the next three with the highest number of votes, including Soylet, to the president. Gul will then appoint Soylet as the candidate who gained the highest number of votes among the three candidates submitted by YOK.

According to the last scenario, the board will exclude Akyuz from the list again. But this instance, Gul will appoint third place Melih Boydak, as the oldest candidate, in order to appease possible reactions against YOK.

Fierce debates erupted in Turkey in August when Gul appointed new rectors to 23 universities around the country, vetoing the university heads who opposed lifting the headscarf ban in universities, although some of them won the voting among academic staff.

His move sparked fierce reactions from academics, with 36 of them, including deans, resigning from three universities.