Istanbul mayor faces accusations of document forgery over studies transfer from Cyprus to Turkey

An investigation has been launched in Turkey into Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu over allegations that documents related to his transfer from a university in northern Cyprus to one in Turkey were forged.

Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor’s office had initially announced that Imamoglu had until Wednesday to give a statement over the alleged forgery of documents. However, Imamoglu said he was unable to do so due to his “public duties”, and will instead testify a week later on March 5.

Imamoglu was born and raised near the Black Sea city of Trabzon and moved to Cyprus in 1988. He spent two years on the island, studying first at Famagusta’s Eastern Mediterranean University, and then at Kyrenia’s Girne American University.

After two years on the island, he transferred to Istanbul University, eventually graduating with a degree in business administration in 1994.

It is alleged that Imamoglu’s father Hasan Imamoglu, who was at the time the Trabzon province chairman of Turkish political party the Anavatan Party, had conspired with Kemal Alemdaroglu, who became Istanbul University rector in 1997, to forge documents and allow his son to transfer from Kyrenia to Istanbul.

Hasan Imamoglu and Alemdaroglu both deny this, with both having given statements to Turkish newspaper Sozcu over the weekend.

Imamoglu senior told the newspaper the allegations amounted to “gossip”.

“I don’t know if Kemal was the rector at the time, but neither I nor Ekrem were in contact with him. My son was not the only one who transferred. At that time, I think there were about 11 other people from the same faculty who transferred within a week or 10 days. These transfers are not personal, nor were they illegal,” he said.

Alemdaroglu said he has “never met Ekrem Imamoglu’s father in my life”, and said he had “no administrative duties” at Istanbul University in 1990.

“I became rector years after the transfer, on December 31, 1997. Equivalence issues pertaining to universities in foreign countries are entirely the responsibility of [Turkey’s higher education council] Yok, and universities have no authorities in this matter.

“In my opinion, a plot is being prepared against Ekrem Imamoglu in every way. In other words, they are trying to sideline Imamoglu. They are trying to wear Imamoglu down,” he said.’

Imamoglu’s degree

Ekrem Imamoglu himself had last year spoken about the transfer, saying that only two of the courses he had taken at the Girne American University were accepted, and that he therefore had to begin his degree in business administration in Istanbul “from scratch”.

Imamoglu’s party CHP leader Ozgur Ozel also commented on the matter during a visit to eastern Turkish city Erzincan at the weekend, swiftly turning his guns on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“It means they have sunk to this. Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s degree has been spoken about for 23 years, and they have been talking and talking. He cannot find a friend from university, and they talk about that. No one remembers him and they talk about that,” he said.

He then made reference to former CHP politician Aydin Ayaydin, who said he had studied together with Erdogan at Istanbul’s Marmara University, before then being named as Erdogan’s AK Party’s candidate in the Aegean city of Mugla last year.

“Even when there is an opposition MP, he remembers him alone, he says it, and then it is seen that he goes and changes parties, and he becomes an AK Party mayoral candidate, and so on … He was the only one from that school who could remember this.

“He was a CHP MP, we said, oh my god! Then, he remembered this, then he changed parties, then he became the AK Party’s candidate in Mugla. Apart from him, there are no witnesses … About Ekrem Imamoglu, all of a sudden, they are taking it seriously and trying to investigate it,” he said.

The accusations come after Imamoglu had declared his intention to run to be Turkey’s next president, with the CHP set to hold an internal election this year to decide who its candidate will be.

“We are embarking on a journey with our nation, which deserves to live humanely, longs for freedom, justice, prosperity and unity. We are embarking on a journey to make our state democratic and strong, our nation rich and peaceful, and our citizens equal and free,” he said in a social media post on Friday.

Imamoglu is the clear frontrunner to be his party’s candidate, with Ozel and Ankara mayor Mansur Yavas both having publicly stated that they will not stand.

Ekrem Imamoglu (top row, second from right) during his time at Turk Ocagi Limasol

He has always spoken highly of his time in Cyprus, having once said, “I spent two years in Cyprus filled with wonderful memories. Cyprus is a great place and a place of great importance in my life.”

In addition, Cyprus has been credited with introducing Imamoglu to social democracy, with Imamoglu himself having been quoted as saying that his time on the island “constituted a turning point in determining my political views.”

Once back in Turkey, he resided in the district of Beylikduzu in the west of Istanbul, becoming the district’s mayor in 2014.

He then became Istanbul mayor in 2019, pulling off a shock victory over AK Party candidate and former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, before renewing his mandate last year with a crushing victory over his AK Party challenger Murat Kurum, as the CHP pulled off landslide victories across the country.