Diploma cancellation decision found lawful by court
After his arrest and removal from the office of Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), Ekrem İmamoğlu’s lawsuit challenging the annulment of his university diploma was rejected.
In its ruling, the Istanbul 5th Administrative Court cited the provisions of the Regulation on Horizontal Transfers Between Higher Education Institutions at the Associate and Undergraduate Level, which was published in the Official Gazette and in force at the time of the horizontal transfer in question, CE Report quotes Anadolu Agency.
The decision stated that, under both the original version of the regulation and its amended version in force at the time of the transfer, horizontal transfers may only take place between higher education institutions offering equivalent education programs. Such transfers are limited to quotas determined by universities and publicly announced. If the number of applicants exceeds the announced quota, students are to be ranked by academic success and accepted starting from the most successful. It was also stipulated that the quota allocated for transfers from foreign higher education institutions may not exceed one-third of the quota allocated for transfers between domestic institutions.
Referring to rulings of the Council of State and the Council of State’s Assembly for the Unification of Case Law, the court noted that if an unlawful administrative act has created an acquired right or a legally protected status in favor of the individual, such an act may only be withdrawn retroactively and without any time limitation in cases of nullity, absolute invalidity, false statements or fraud by the individual, or a clear error by the administration in applying explicit legal provisions.
In its assessment of "clear error," the court emphasized that the administrative errors in question were not minor or inadvertent mistakes. On the contrary, the large number of errors, their repetition in succession, their consistency with one another, and the impression that they were carried out to achieve a specific objective indicated a high degree of illegality and serious legal defect.
The court noted that the plaintiff claimed he would have qualified for the three-person quota allocated for transfers from foreign universities if the unlawful procedures had not occurred. However, based on grade point averages presented to the court, the plaintiff ranked below other students whose diplomas were not annulled. Even if a merit-based ranking had been conducted, the plaintiff would have remained outside the quota.
"It was known that transfer from Girne American University to Turkish state universities was not possible"
Regarding good faith, the court cited testimony by Özalp Tozan, founder of Girne American University and listed among the plaintiff’s references, stating that during the relevant period the university lacked equivalency, was not recognized by the Higher Education Council (YÖK), could not issue valid diplomas, and that transfers from such an institution to Turkish state universities were not possible. These facts were widely known among universities and students studying between 1986 and 1992.
Based on all evidence and findings, the court concluded that the horizontal transfer process involved conscious, systematic actions carried out within an organized structure, constituting serious and clear violations of the law. It held that the plaintiff could not be considered to have acted in good faith and that it was incompatible with the ordinary course of life to assume he was unaware of such severe irregularities.
Accordingly, the court ruled that the unlawful horizontal transfer, as well as the graduation and diploma obtained on its basis, could be revoked at any time without being subject to any time limitation. Therefore, the decision of Istanbul University’s Board of Directors dated 18 March 2025, annulling the transfer, graduation, and diploma, was found to be lawful, and the case was unanimously dismissed.
Background of the case
Ekrem İmamoğlu’s lawyer had applied to the administrative court requesting a stay of execution of Istanbul University’s decision to annul his diploma. The court rejected this request on 25 July 2025.
Separately, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office filed a criminal indictment alleging that İmamoğlu’s university diploma was forged. The indictment states that University College of Northern Cyprus (UCNC), where İmamoğlu studied before transferring to Istanbul University, was not among the institutions recognized by YÖK in 1990.
The indictment alleges that transfer lists were manipulated, that 54 students were unlawfully admitted to a department with a quota of three, and that İmamoğlu was falsely recorded as a student of Eastern Mediterranean University despite actually being enrolled at UCNC.
The prosecution seeks a prison sentence of between 2 years 6 months and 8 years 9 months for the offense of "forgery of official documents committed in a chain," along with deprivation of certain rights under Article 53 of the Turkish Penal Code. The case is currently being heard by the Istanbul 59th Criminal Court of First Instance.
