Ph.D in Football More Likely for PM's Aide

turkce links to original Turkish article

(Hurriyet Newspaper, 16 May 2014)


Goooooooooooool! Messi would be jealous!

Yusuf Yerkel, an aide to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan,
accompanied the Prime Minister on the visit to Soma (site of
the recent mine tragedy). The photograph of Yerkel kicking
a protester there has set a viewing record on social media
but now Yerkel's supposed Ph.D had created another controversy.

Previously, Yerkel had stated on the academia.edu internet
site that he is a Ph.D student at London University's School
of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). After the photo came
out, though, an email campaign began in order to pressure SOAS
to take back Yerkel's degree. With thousands of emails coming
into SOAS in this regard, the university felt the need to issue
the following statement yesterday: "Yusuf Yerkel registered at
the university on 27 September 2010. However, on 25 September
2011 he had that registration erased and ended his academic life
here. Yerkel has no connection whatsoever with SOAS."

The website academia.edu is used by many academicians,
doctoral candidates and researchers around the world. In his
profile on the site Yerkel states that he is a doctoral student at
SOAS and is writing a comparative analysis of Iran's and Turkey's
positions on foreign affairs.  Yerkel lists Arshin Adib-Moghaddam
and Fiona Adamson of London University as his doctoral thesis
advisors.

It can be seen that Yerkel checked his profile on the site most
recently about one month ago.