He teaches as a professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen. But the title of Islam expert could be a fake.
The Ministry of Education of North Rhine-Westphalia has terminated the contract of a political scientist who had advised the state government on Islamic issues for more than ten years. Apparently, the political scientist had built his career on false statements. This is the result of research by the newspaper WELT AM SONNTAG.
The man called himself “Prof. Dr.”, spoke at events and regularly gave interviews to the media on topics such as Turkish-German relations and Islamic religious education.
Now suspicions arose: The information he had given on his application in 2009 could be false. Currently, it is being clarified whether the “professor” had ever written a dissertation, according to the Ministry of Education.
WELT AM SONNTAG had reported that the dissertation mentioned on the certificate was known neither to Goethe University Frankfurt, where the thesis was allegedly written, nor to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which, according to the political scientist, published the thesis in 2008.
In 2017, he had been assigned by the Ministry of Education to the University of Duisburg-Essen. According to the ministry, the man has since lost his job. If the dissertation certificate is forged, there are criminal consequences.