ANKARA (Reuters) – Istanbul University has annulled Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu’s university diploma over irregularities with the Higher Education Board’s (YOK) regulations, it said on Tuesday.
The university’s move came amid a government crackdown on opposition figures, particularly Imamoglu. A lawyer for Imamoglu last week told Reuters there were no irregularities regarding the mayor’s diploma and that they were not expecting an “illegal” ruling.
The university said in a statement that 38 people, including Imamoglu, had transferred universities in 1990 to its Management Faculty’s English-language programme in an irregular way, adding that 10 of them had their transfers annulled and 28 others had their diplomas annulled.
(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu, editing by Ed Osmond)
