Turkish mayor wanted to ‘see in person’ Cyprus university years after ‘graduation’

A Turkish mayor who claims to have studied at a university in Cyprus said years after his claimed graduation date that he wished to see the university “in person” and made no mention of having studied there during a visit to the campus in 2014.

Yusuf Alemdar is the mayor of the Sakarya municipality, which has a population of over a million and is located on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, and claims to have graduated with a degree in business administration from Famagusta’s Eastern Mediterranean University.

However, when he paid a visit to Famagusta in 2014, at which time he was the mayor of Serdivan – a smaller municipality inside Sakarya – he made no mention of ever having studied there.

He visited the university in August 2014, and, according to the university’s website, “stated that he loves the TRNC very much” and that he had “received very positive information” about the university.

“He added that he wanted to see it in person to obtain more detailed information,” the university added at the time, before saying that he had completed his military service in Cyprus but made no reference at any point to having studied at the university which he was visiting, or anywhere at all.

Abdullah Oztoprak, the university’s rector at the time, said that the university has “many students and graduates from Sakarya” but at no point made any reference to any previous studies undertaken by Alemdar.

The university also said that Oztoprak had “informed Yusuf Alemdar about the campus and infrastructure facilities” – something he likely would not have to do if Alemdar had actually studied at the university.

The Cyprus Mail contacted the Sakarya municipality and requested evidence of Alemdar’s studies and graduation. It has also made persistent and repeated attempts to contact both the Eastern Mediterranean University and the north’s higher education accreditation institution (Yodak) but has thus far received no response.

Rumours regarding the veracity of Alemdar’s claims that he studied in Cyprus arose earlier this week when veteran journalist Levent Ozadam said he had been alerted to the issue by an academic from the Eastern Mediterranean University.

According to Ozadam, that academic “did some research” in the university’s archives and found no record that Alemdar had ever studied at or obtained a degree from the university.

Alemdar belongs to Turkey’s ruling AK Party, and was elected to the role for the first time at Turkey’s local elections in 2024, though he did win more than 100,000 votes fewer than his predecessor Ekrem Yuce, also of the AK Party, had in 2019 on a historically good night for opposition parties.

Questions regarding mayors’ studies in Cyprus are nothing new to Turkish politics, with Istanbul University having last year revoked the degree of the now suspended Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu over the fact that he had begun his university studies at the Girne American University in Kyrenia.

The reason given for the revocation of the degree was that Turkey’s higher education council (Yok) deemed the Girne American University not to be adequately recognised for him to have been able to later transfer to Istanbul.

Imamoglu had attempted to challenge that ruling at Istanbul’s fifth administrative court last month, but the court rejected his case.

He was arrested one day after his degree was revoked, and remains incarcerated at the Silivri prison, having been sentenced to 20 months behind bars in July last year for insulting and threatening Akin Gurlek, who was at the time Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor and was on Tuesday appointed as Turkey’s justice minister.