Ekrem İmamoğlu's lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan announces criminal complaint filed against him: 'We stand behind it to the end'

Mehmet Pehlivan, lawyer for Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, announced that a criminal complaint has been filed against him by members of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK).

Pehlivan stated that the criminal complaint was filed by the YÖK members who prepared an 'Investigation Report' regarding İmamoğlu's diploma.

"IT IS NOT A CRIME, BUT A DUTY"

Mehmet Pehlivan's post is as follows:

"We had issued two separate press statements in which we demonstrated with documents that the Investigation Report prepared by some YÖK members regarding Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu's diploma was contrary to law and the truth. 

Now, the YÖK members who prepared this report have filed a criminal complaint against me, requesting that I be sentenced to up to 13 years and 8 months in prison. Their allegations are that I attempted to influence a fair trial, and that I committed slander and defamation… 

We stand behind our statements and the documents we presented to the end. Telling the truth is not a crime; on the contrary, it is a duty.

And we repeat. While the report includes dozens of irrelevant documents; 

The fact that YÖK granted equivalency to diplomas issued to graduates of Girne American University has been concealed. They expected us to believe the absurdity that a lateral transfer cannot be made from a school whose diploma they found equivalent (!) 

It was concealed that there was no such condition as 'recognition' in the lateral transfer legislation of that period. 

This criminal complaint is clear pressure exerted upon me for expressing the facts. We will not give up on speaking and telling the truth."