Amid a criminal inquiry into mass cheating in the exams by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), Daily Sabah revealed how the group members made their way into universities and installed thousands of academics loyal to the group in the institutions of higher learning all across the country.FETÖ, which is blamed for the July 15 coup attempt as well as two attempts to overthrow the government in 2013, is now being investigated for cheating in the Academic Personnel and Graduate Exam (ALES), the equivalent of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) used in admission of students to postgraduate courses. The terrorist group, known for its widespread infiltration of the judiciary, police, bureaucracy, military and other institutions, reportedly "stole" questions and answers for ALES between 2005 and 2013 and supplied it to its followers. Thus, some 8,500 people were assigned as academics in private and state-run universities.The plot was revealed through closer examination of the success rate in exams in the past two decades. While only 0.1 percent of those who sat the exam in 2005 answered correctly to all questions in the exam, it rose considerably in 2009. Figures show more than 20,000 people passed the exam that year with only two wrong answers in ALES, where the time limit is tighter than other exams.The exam is a stepping stone for those pursuing an academic career and most participants linked to FETÖ chose to work in universities, rising to the rank of assistant professors. Unlike other exams, top scorers in ALES are not disclosed, thus driving away any suspicion of cheating, and since the exam grades were treated differently in different universities, FETÖ-linked suspects managed to evade attention to any possible fraud.By installing its loyalists into the universities, the terror group, which already runs a global network of schools, reinforced its manpower in academic circles in Turkey. An inquiry into the post-2010 period for ALES shows a significant drop in success rates. In 2009, 4,236 people sitting the exam scored the highest grades while it was only 124 in 2013.Through its followers in state-run bodies organizing the exams, FETÖ is believed to have gained access to questions and answers in almost all academic exams, civil servant exams and other tests used for employment in the public sector between 2002 and 2013.Following the July 15 coup attempt, authorities have removed thousands of academics linked to the terror group from duty and hundreds face investigation for their active role in the group.Prosecutors have already started an investigation into cheating in ALES last year, focusing on the year 2012, when low scorers in the 2011 exam answered all questions correctly. Nine suspects were investigated for ALES cheating.Mass cheating in exams first came to the attention of prosecutors through the Public Personnel Selection Exam (KPSS), used for hiring civil servants. Prosecutors found out a large number of people who scored high on the 2010 KPSS exam were either partners or relatives of Gülenists or were employed by companies and schools linked to the terror group. The head of an NGO associated with the terror group, who remains at large, is accused of delivering answers for the exam to participants, with the assistance of Gülenist infiltrators within the state-run institution that organizes the exam.Hundreds of suspects face prison terms for both being members of a terrorist group and cheating.The KPSS and ALES are not the only exams Gülenists are accused of cheating on to get easy access to state posts. Cheating was also detected in international exams, such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and two other English language proficiency tests.The IELTS is used for the promotion of academics at universities. An inquiry in 2013 found that more than 1,500 people who were eventually employed by public universities scored suspiciously high on exams at five private universities with ties to the movement. An inquiry into cheating on TOEFL exams focused on allegations that Gülenists with higher language skills sat for the exams on behalf of those who had failed previous TOEFL exams. In practices similar to those used in the KPSS scheme, successful participants were often found to have either partners or relatives who scored too low in previous, easier exams.