Prosecutors in Istanbul launched an investigation into allegations that Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu falsified his university degree. The mayor is summoned to testify in the probe on Wednesday. The Chief Prosecutor’s Office announced on Saturday that the charge against Imamoğlu is “forgery of an official document,” an investigation began upon tip-offs that his university diploma was false and a report by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) about the alleged falsification.
If the diploma is found to be falsified, Imamoğlu may be barred from a future presidential election where candidates must have a higher degree. The mayor was picked earlier this week as the only person for his Republican People’s Party (CHP) for an intraparty election to choose the main opposition’s presidential candidate. The CHP pushes for an early election, while the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) insists on an election in the scheduled year 2028.
Some media outlets reported that the mayor’s diploma from Istanbul University’s business administration department was genuine, but he might have falsified documents for the transfer to the said university from a university based in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Reports say that the Turkish Cypriot university was not recognized by the YÖK when Imamoğlu was transferred to Istanbul University. Therefore, he was ineligible to attend the latter. Following allegations by a journalist, the Istanbul municipality published a photocopy of a business management diploma that Imamoglu received from Istanbul University in 1995 last September.
According to his official biography, Imamoğlu enrolled in the civil engineering department of Eastern Mediterranean University in Turkish Cyprus in the early 1990s before transferring to the business administration department of Girne American University on the island. After two years of studies there, he was transferred to Istanbul University and graduated in 1994. He also has a postgraduate degree from the same department.
The mayor ran a family construction company and was active in several sports clubs before he made his foray into politics in 2008. After a stint as mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district between 2014 and 2019, the CHP nominated him as Istanbul's mayoral candidate. He is currently in his second tenure as Istanbul mayor after winning the 2024 municipal elections. Imamoğlu also serves as head of the Turkish Union of Municipalities.
