A Turkish court on Monday adjourned the “fake diploma” trial of jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu until February 16, 2026, while prosecutors opened an investigation into a leaked audio recording from the hearing that appeared on X, Turkish Minute reported.
İmamoğlu, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), is the party’s presidential candidate for the next election in 2028 and is widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest rival. He has been in pretrial detention since March in a separate corruption case.
The case focuses on his 1990 transfer from Girne American University in northern Cyprus to İstanbul University’s business administration program. Prosecutors say the northern Cyprus school was not recognized at the time by Turkey’s Council of Higher Education and accuse İmamoğlu of multiple counts of “forgery of official documents” He faces between two-and-a-half and eight years, nine months in prison and a possible political ban.
Monday’s hearing took place in a courtroom inside Marmara Prison in Silivri. The panel said it would wait for a ruling from an administrative court on İstanbul University’s decision to cancel his diploma, then adjourned the criminal trial.
İmamoğlu criticized the delay, telling the judge, “You have no intention of holding this trial, Your Honor. Very sad, very.”
Soon after the session, the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said it had launched a probe into those who “unlawfully” recorded the hearing and shared the audio on X. The office said the investigation will proceed under Article 286 of the Turkish Penal Code, which covers recording and publishing material from ongoing trials.
Opposition politicians and rights groups say the diploma case and the corruption case are part of a wider effort to remove İmamoğlu from politics before the 2028 race.
