The former head of the Judges and Prosecutors Association (YARSAV), Ömer Faruk Eminağaoğlu, has filed a criminal complaint against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on charge of “forgery of official documents.”
Filing the complaint in Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Eminağaoğlu claimed that Erdoğan has no bachelor degree because he has not received higher education.
Eminağaoğlu also asked the Supreme Election Board (YSK) to search for President Erdoğan’s much-disputed bachelor degree and see if he meets the necessary requirement for being the president.
According to the Article 101 of the Turkish Constitution, candidates for the office of presidency are elected among the Grand National Assembly members that are over forty years of age and have completed higher education.
Erdoğan’s resume on the presidency webpage says “He received his graduation diploma from Marmara University’s Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences in 1981”. However, there have been a number of news reports claiming that his bachelor diploma is also fake.
According to the media reports, the Marmara University online archive records were shut down before Erdoğan was elected as president in 2014. When the archives opened again due to complaints, no diploma has been found listed under the name of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Debates concerning the president’s graduation have started to increase lately. People spoke about the controversial bachelor degree on social media, with hashtags #DiplomasıDaSahte (His diploma is also fake), #HaniMişDiploma (Where is the diploma) and #YaDiplomaYaİstifa (Either [show the] diploma or resign!) becoming trending topics in Turkey and world lists.
