Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu testified in an investigation into allegations that he obtained a fake university diploma. The investigation, which may have hurt his chances of running for president, found that he might have contravened regulations against transferring a student from a school unrecognized by Turkish higher education bodies.
The mayor was supposed to testify last month but excused himself with an official petition to the court. On Wednesday, he arrived in a courthouse in Istanbul to testify, days after his lawyers held a news conference to deny allegations of the fake diploma. A candidate can be barred from the presidential race if he or she lacks a university diploma. The mayor is the only candidate in a primary of his Republican People’s Party (CHP) to pick a name to run in what they hoped would be an early election to oust the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and its chair, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Imamoğlu’s critics and some journalists claimed on social media that Imamoğlu had a forged diploma from Istanbul University, but the allegations were shot down by the mayor earlier. The investigation was launched after a tipoff that Imamoğlu was allegedly illegally transferred to Istanbul University’s business administration department from a private university in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), at a time that the university was not recognized by Türkiye, therefore, his transfer and subsequent diploma would be null and void.
The mayor, already embattled with several lawsuits from insults to corruption of public officials, told the investigators that he enrolled in Girne American University's business administration department in 1988, and one year later, he found out about “others transferring to universities in Türkiye." "In 1990, I followed the transfer procedure and applied (for transfer to Istanbul University,” the mayor said. When asked whether Necmettin Karaduman, a former parliament speaker and an influential political figure of his time, played a role in his transfer, Imamoğlu said Karaduman was merely a friend of the family.
The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office now awaits a response to a letter to Istanbul University to question the validity of Imamoğlu’s transfer to the prestigious school from the TRNC. Prosecutors asked the university to take measures if his transfer was against the law. “Measures” may involve cancellation of his diploma that will stall the mayor’s ambitions to run for top office and may even end up with him paying for damages to the state.
