Dutch rector accused of plagiarism

The Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant reported (in-depth report is here) on February 8, 2016 that the Turkish rector of the Islamic University of Rotterdam, Ahmed Akgündüz, has been accused of plagiarism. The first accusations seem to stem from 1991. His dissertation on religious foundations according to Islamic law appears to strongly mirror an Iraqi publication from 1977. de Volkskrant states that they have translations of both texts that clearly demonstrate the similarity. Another author has stated that books that Akgündüz has published on the Kurdish writer Said Nursi lift paragraphs and pages word for word.

A few weeks ago a committee was set up to investigate the allegations. The head of the committee was the Deputy Chairman of the board of the Islamic University of Rotterdam. Within two days the committee produced a seven-page document that declared that no plagiarism could be seen. A professor is quoted as being surprised that the speed of the investigation, as such a complex material would normally take months to examine.

Akgündüz defends himself, saying that this is just an ideological attack on him. Since he used that same sources, he finds it logical that the same footnotes would be in the same order and the same conclusions reached. 

[The articles are behind a paywall, with luck at decoding the Dutch you can get free access in order to read them or use Google translate to read.]