26.05.2025 10:21
It has been determined that Mehmet Altunkaya, a former vice-rector of Akdeniz University and long-time dean of the Faculty of Law, committed plagiarism and falsely represented non-existent publications to be appointed to a professorship. The university's board of management has canceled Altunkaya's professorship and sent the decision to YÖK for approval. It remains uncertain whether he will return the salary he has received for the past 10 years.
In a complaint made against Mehmet Altunkaya, who served as the vice-rector during the term of former rector Prof. Dr. Mustafa Ünal at Akdeniz University and was also the dean of the Faculty of Law for many years, it was stated that he did not earn his academic titles legitimately, and that he deceived the administration by preparing false documents despite not meeting the conditions. The complainant emphasized that all the works he claimed to have published should be checked to see if they were actually published, asserting that his work does not exist and that the things he presented as works are plagiarized.
COPIED A GERMAN PROFESSOR'S BOOK The complainant provided an example, stating that the book titled 'Fitness Contract, Sayram, Konya 2015' by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Altunkaya is merely a careless translation of Hans Geisler's book 'Die Erstlaufzeit beim Fitnessvertrag-Hamburg 2008'. The complainant mentioned that to avoid it being understood as a translation, general information from Turkish law was added to some parts, and references were made to general sources, but this addition constituted less than 1% of the book, and that the content of the book was largely translated verbatim, with footnotes also being largely copied as is.
ERROR IN TRANSLATION PROGRAM IN PLAGIARISM The complainant also noted that a translation program was used while writing the book, stating, "It is clearly understood from the number 127 in the third line of the second paragraph on page 36. The information here is actually footnote number 127 on page 57 of the book. The relevant person forgot to delete 127 while translating. Again, the translation program translated 'mixed contract' as 'karışık sözleşme', which has been introduced into Turkish legal terminology on page 49 of the book. What has been mentioned here pales in comparison to the heavy plagiarism in the book. An objective and genuine scientist can easily determine that 99% of the book was created through poor translation," he said.
The complainant stated that the translated text was used to deceive the administration and obtain a position, emphasizing that allowing such a person to teach law to young minds in the Faculty of Law is shameful for the Republic of Turkey, the legal community, and a university like Akdeniz University, and requested that necessary actions be taken.
DETERMINED TO BE FAKE IN THE INVESTIGATION As a result of the examination conducted by the expert appointed within the scope of the investigation initiated by the AÜ Rectorate upon the complaint, it was determined that the allegations in the complaint were true. Investigations revealed that an article used for Altunkaya's appointment to the professorship had never been published, and another article was found to have been presented as if it met the required qualifications for the position, even though it did not. It was concluded by the relevant authorities that Altunkaya's actions were also unethical.
"I MAY HAVE BENEFITED EXCESSIVELY" Mehmet Altunkaya, who provided verbal and written defense during the investigation, claimed that the book was on a topic that had not been written in Turkey before, and that he benefited greatly from German sources, asserting that there were thematic similarities and parallels with the work in question. In his statement, Altunkaya said, "There is excessive benefit. This is not an ethical violation. I benefited because it is a very important source. There was no such work in Turkish law. There were no translation programs at that time. In the YÖK Productive Artificial Intelligence (ÜYZ) guide, it is stated that you can translate but you should check. Even if ÜYZ is used in scientific research, it is not considered an ethical violation. I may have made incomplete citations; I may be at fault. Is being at fault considered an ethical violation? It cannot be considered an ethical violation. I may have benefited excessively, but it is not plagiarism," he said.
JUST LEARNED THE ARTICLE FROM 2015 WAS NOT PUBLISHED Altunkaya also expressed that he was very upset in his statements, saying, "I applied for the professorship position on July 3, 2015. It used to be enough to say that the publications stated to be published in the law journal would be published. In law, an oath is also evidence. I just learned about these issues recently. I just learned that it was not published. I did not research these issues due to the intensity of the case files, and it did not come to my mind. I just learned that these publications were not published; I did not know. There was absolutely no intention," he said.
NEVER THOUGHT THE JOURNAL WOULD NOT BE PEER-REVIEWED Stating that the German article was published in 2013, Altunkaya noted that he did not question whether the journal was peer-reviewed or not, saying, "Since it is a very important journal, it never occurred to me that it would not be peer-reviewed. It accounts for very little in the scoring. It is not possible for me to be in such an intention for just 7 points. It is at most a negligent behavior. This cannot be considered an ethical violation," he said.
HIS POSITION HAS BEEN REVOKED, DECISION SENT TO YÖK As a result of the investigation, the University Administrative Board decided to revoke Altunkaya's professorship, noting that he did not meet the required qualifications and number of publications for the professorship position to which he was appointed on August 14, 2015, in the Department of Private Law, Civil Law Chair of the Faculty of Law. It was also stated that he misled the administration to meet the 'minimum publication' condition, and that he applied to gain benefits intentionally and consciously, and that he was appointed to the professorship position despite not meeting the necessary conditions as a result of an obviously erroneous administrative action. The AÜ Administrative Board unanimously decided to revoke Altunkaya's professorship and demote him to the associate professorship, citing that an article used for his appointment had never been published, and that another article did not meet the required qualifications for the position. This decision of the University Administrative Board was sent to the YÖK Presidency for approval.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE PROFESSOR'S SALARY HE HAS RECEIVED FOR 10 YEARS? Altunkaya, whose professorship was revoked on the grounds that he was appointed to the professorship position in 2015 without the necessary academic qualifications, was made both vice-rector and dean of the faculty immediately after becoming a professor. Having received a salary from the state with the professorship title that was determined to have been obtained with false documents for 10 years, Altunkaya was also featured in the news as the 'dean who failed the mediation exam.'
After becoming a professor, Altunkaya also held positions in the upper management of the university, serving as vice-rector, rector advisor, senate member, university administrative board member, dean of the Faculty of Law, department head, and academic board member during the term of Prof. Dr. Mustafa Ünal.
Altunkaya received a salary due to all these managerial duties.
Altunkaya, who also teaches courses to law faculty students, held positions such as the Chair of the FETÖ Commission during the term of former rector Mustafa Ünal and the Chair of the Ethics Committee at Akdeniz University. There has been no statement yet from the university administration regarding whether the difference in salaries received from the state will be reclaimed, whether he will be dismissed from public service, or whether a criminal complaint has been filed against him.