A new investigation into Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was announced Saturday (February 22) by Istanbul’s Chief Prosecutor. The investigation concerns the alleged falsification of İmamoğlu’s university degree.
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The new investigation is now the fifth pending legal case against the Istanbul mayor, who has been under mounting legal pressure of late. İmamoğlu has been called to give a statement on the matter this Wednesday (February 26).
Allegations first emerged in September
Doubt regarding the authenticity of İmamoğlu’s university diploma first emerged in September 2024 when Erdem Atay, director of Veryansın TV, expressed suspicions regarding the mayor’s transfer from the Girne American University in Northern Cyprus to Istanbul University.
The suspicions voiced by Atay in September focus on the fact that İmamoğlu had studied engineering at Girne and then transferred to the management department in Istanbul. Additionally, Atay alleged that during the era in which Imamoğlu studied in the mid-1990s, the Girne American University was not accredited by Turkey’s Council of Higher Education (YOK).
Murat Ongun, an advisor of İmamoğlu’s, had responded to these claims by publishing copies of İmamoğlu’s degree from Istanbul University.
In a parliamentary debate on the matter in November, a representative of İmamoğlu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) defended the authenticity of the mayor’s degree and invited those expressing doubts to investigate the matter.
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Diploma matter marks fifth active investigation into Istanbul mayor
The controversy surrounding İmamoğlu’s diploma joins a long list of active investigations against the mayor which threaten to remove him from office.
In 2019, critical comments made by İmamoğlu towards Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) following the decision to rerun Istanbul’s mayoral election resulted in the first case against the mayor, which ended in a sentence of prison time and a political ban in late 2022. The verdict was appealed and a final decision remains pending.
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A second case opened in early 2023 concerns alleged corruption in the awarding of construction tenders during İmamoğlu’s tenure as mayor of Istanbul’s western suburban Beylikdüzü district from 2014-2019.
Two new investigations were opened into İmamoğlu in late January. One concerns comments made by the mayor at a panel on January 20th regarding the politicization of the judiciary in Turkey. The other investigation relates to an allegation made by İmamoğlu suggesting that the case regarding corrupt construction tenders in Beylikdüzü was prepared using falsified prosecutor reports.
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The popular Istanbul mayor is now an official presidential candidate in the CHP’s upcoming primary vote. The early announcement of İmamoğlu’s candidacy has been viewed by some as a strategy to shield the mayor against mounting legal pressure.
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Diploma controversy brings questions regarding Erdoğan’s degree back into focus
Controversy over the authenticity of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s degree first surfaced in 2014, leading to an online campaign demanding the president release his diploma or resign. According to Turkish law, holding a four-year degree is a required prerequisite in order to become president.
According to the president’s biography, Erdoğan graduated from Marmara University’s Economic and Commercial Sciences Faculty in 1981. Doubt regarding the authenticity of the degree related to the closure of Marmara’s archives during 2014’s presidential election, as well as questions about whether the Economic and Commercial Sciences Faculty had ever existed. Today’s equivalent department at Marmara, the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences, was founded in 1982.
In 2016, Marmara University released the president’s diploma publicly on its website. Former classmates and professors later came out publicly to voice support for the authenticity of Erdoğan’s degree.
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
