Details on diploma revocation as move hits academic

ISTANBUL

The details of the investigation report concerning the cancelation of the university diploma of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and the 27 individuals accompanying him have come to light, with the move also hitting an academic from Galatasaray University.

The university this week annulled İmamoğlu’s diploma, citing irregularities in the process. İmamoğlu, who transferred from a Turkish Cypriot university in 1990 before graduating from Istanbul University, now faces accusations following a YÖK report, which asserts that the Turkish Cypriot institution in question was not officially recognized at the time. As a result, the report deems his transfer — and by extension, his subsequent degree — invalid, rendering the diploma fraudulent.

The report highlighted that students, including İmamoğlu, who applied for transfers from the then unrecognized University College of Northern Cyprus, were registered under the name Eastern Mediterranean University.

Additionally, the report revealed that some students’ names were erased and replaced with new ones, typed in a different font and size.

One of the most striking cases of annulment is that of Galatasaray University’s Business Administration Department faculty member, Professor Dr. Naciye Aylin Atay Saybaşılı, whose undergraduate diploma was also revoked.

Saybaşılı completed her doctoral studies at Istanbul University’s Faculty of Business Administration and the University of Sorbonne in France.

She is currently continuing her academic career as a faculty member at Galatasaray University.

The report attributed the reason for the professor’s diploma annulment to the fact that the transfer was processed despite her failure to complete the required number of course credits for the transfer.