59% and done

Mr. 11jigen (meaning 11 dimensions), the owner of Japanese blog, has finally sent out an official accusation (in Japanese) on massive plagiarisms in Dr. Anilir's Ph. D. thesis. He even attached over 70 printed reference materials (mostly plagiarized sources). The accusation was cosigned by Mr. 781, who had earlier sent an accusation on Dr. Anilir's use of research grant.  At this moment, 59%(!!) of the thesis is identified as plagiarisms.

It was received by the University of Tokyo administration on November 30th. Great Job, Mr. 11jigen! Many other people also contributed to the investigation of Dr. Anilir's thesis.

Filtered....

I just found out that two e-mails, which I received weeks ago, were erroneously filtered into the spam folder. I was completely unaware of this. The messages in the spam folder are deleted after 30 days, so it is possible that some messages were sent to the spam folder and later deleted without my knowing.

I am sorry if this happened to you. If you sent me an e-mail more than 30 days ago, but never received my reply, please let me know.

Reported in Turkey

Arda Mevlutoglu told us in a comment to this blog, that the problems with Dr. Anilir were reported by a mainstream Turkish newspaper:

http://www.stargazete.com/guncel/nasa-kurnazi-haber-226650.htm

The article also appears to be distributed in an internet news site:

http://haber.mynet.com/detay/yasam/nasa-kurnazi/480972

UPDATE:  the problem was also reported in Turkish TV (ATV)
http://www.atv.com.tr/haber_programi/haber_izle/2009/11/20
(from 3min37sec)

More detailed(?) news report on TV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fw4x3xBMB8
(thanks to Anonymous comment for the information)

In response to the news reports in Turkey, Dr. Anilir posted an excuse in his Turkish blog:
http://anilir.blogcu.com/aciklama/6418939

His Japanese blog remains silent after September 26th, although he used to post at least one entry every month until September.

How was this investigation started?

This entry perhaps should have been posted first. I apologize for posting this late.

A frequently asked question about the recent investigation of Dr. Anilir's career is how it was started and spread recently, after the negligence over several years. Some people suspect (or try to downplay our effort by claiming) that it must come from personal resentment, which is completely wrong as you will understand by reading the following.

First, I have to clarify that what I am reporting on this blog is mostly not my own research, but result of collective efforts by many people (I also contribute as one of them, but my share is tiny.)

It seems that some people had suspicion about Dr. Anilir before. However, if you do not have a solid evidence, it would be difficult to accuse someone. It also involves certain risk.

Dr. Anilir was fairly well known, but he was not famous enough. Many people had not (and perhaps still have not) heard about him. Things might have changed a little, when an article featuring Dr. Anilir appeared as one of the "Front Runner" special series article in Asahi Shimbun (newspaper) on August 29th, 2009. Asahi is one of the largest newspapers in Japan (officially, 8 million copies are printed for every issue), and it featured him in substantial depth (full 1 and 1/2 page) -- although most of the content now seems to be fantasy. The "Front Runner" series featured, for example, Bill Gates in the past. Maybe he got more attention because of this article in Asahi Shimbun.

Then enters "2 channel" -- the largest internet forum in Japan. Most postings there are made anonymously, and the quality of the postings varies wildly. Some people (especially those in traditional mass media) tend to downplay or ridicule internet forums, especially "2 channel". In fact, occasionally, some stupid people use "2 channel" to announce criminal acts and get arrested. (You can usually maintain anonymity at "2 channel", but they keep the access log and disclose to law enforcement agencies upon official request. Announcement to kill someone is a crime by itself, so the police will investigate and ask for the log!)

On the other hand, although it is overlooked by traditional media, some serious (and often very professional) discussions also take place in "2 channel". It has many sub-forums (called ita or "boards" in "2 channel"), and several of them are devoted to sciences. On the "Sciences - General" board, there was a thread on paper submission, where people were discussing how to write a paper and go through the review process, etc.

Meanwhile, someone got to know about Dr. Anilir (maybe from the Asahi article, but I don't know) and looked at his publication list in his web page at the University of Tokyo. At a glance, it looked like a normal publication list with many papers. But he or she noticed that there was a very strange "paper" in the listing -- Physical Review Letters published by Cambridge University Press, and the article is claimed to have more than 10 pages. Anyone with some research experience in physics would immediately smell something strange. I am not sure if anybody with physics background looked at the publication list previously in Japan. Maybe someone noticed, but did not know how to deal with it. Actually, we learned that "feyerabend" (who I think also contributes to this blog) did notice the problem with PRL (and some others) and posted to Turkish internet forum(?) "sourtimes" earlier, on May 18th, 2009. Maybe our "2 channel" just has more population to start a large-scale movement.

Anyway, in Japan, the person who noticed the problem with "Physical Review Letters" paper posted the finding to the thread discussing paper submission, in "Sciences - General" board of "2 channel". It was on September 5th, 2009, just one week after the article in Asahi Shimbun. It got attention of scientists participating in the same thread, and on September 9th, a new thread to discuss exclusively the "Serkan affair" was started. The story was spread gradually over "2 channel" (especially science-related boards) and attracted quite a few scientists and engineers. I am just one of them.

Later, the information was spread not only in "2 channel" but also through other internet media. Investigation was also extended in other places, in particular at Japanese blog where the findings of "2 channel" are also summarized. This is also an interesting subject in the history of this affair, but let me stop here for now. I just mention that the "Serkan affair thread" in "2 channel" is now 10th in its series. Every thread is closed after 1,000 postings, so there have been almost 10,000 postings in the "Serkan affair thread" so far.

Anyhow, the current investigation was ignited by the anonymous posting in "2 channel" on September 5th. Most of the people involved in the investigation, including myself, did not know about Dr. Anilir before that epoch-making posting, so there was not even a chance to have any personal resentment. It is also interesting to recall that "2 channel" is often regarded as a crazy, underground place, especially by traditional media. At least concerning Dr. Anilir, however, it quickly accumulated most precise information which was not known by newspapers or authorities like the University of Tokyo.

More Cancellations......

Some people are worrying (or hoping?) if he is still enjoying the same life as before. Of course, as the problem is getting attention of more people, many of his activities have been canceled or affected significantly. Some update since the last report.


・Oct. 31, 2009, Lecture at Istanbul Book Fair, TUYAP Istanbul: canceled　Updated Program, compare to Prior Announcement
・Nov. 9, 2009,  Special Lecture at Department of Architecture, Kyushu University: canceled　Schedule (in Japanese, PDF)
・Nov. 27, 2009, Plenary talk at International Design Forum: canceled　Updated Program, compare to Prior Announcement
・Toshiba Elevator Corp. "Future Elevator Contest": Dr. Anilir was listed as a judge, but removed from the web page on Nov. 16, 2009 without any explanation. 
・"Serkan College":  apparently kicked out from the original Tokyo venue in "Midtown Tokyo".  On the web, they announce that "The location will be notified to each participant in private". "Liaison Center" used to be a co-organizer, but has dropped out. We learned that many participants are now aware of the problem and demanding an explanation from the organizer.

Getting Ph. D. is so easy (for him)

One of the true statements (which are rare!) appearing in Dr. Anilir's CV is "Ph. D. in Engineering" from the University of Tokyo, obtained in 2003.

However, it is found that over half (53% as of writing this) of his Ph.D. thesis is copied from publications or web pages of other people. The investigation is still ongoing at Japanese blog. (Japanese blog is operated by another person.) Sorry, I haven't prepared English page for the investigation of the Ph.D. thesis. But perhaps you can understand to some extent by checking the Japanese blog (Dr. Anilir's thesis is written in English, and you can see the scanned image.)

If you find the "original" of his thesis which has not been pointed out, please kindly let us know (you can use the comment section of this blog, if you prefer.)

We wonder what would be the percentage of his contribution in the end??

Even we forget about "NASA Astronaut Candidate" and all other problems, the Ph. D. thesis alone seems to be a quite serious problem.

Denied in Turkey

Breaking News --- another report by a major newspaper

Asahi Shimbun, one of the largest newspapers in Japan, published an article entitled "Todai Assistant Professor Claiming an Astronaut Candidate: Reasoning Denied by Turkish Government" on the web and in the November 14th printed issue.

This time, the article explicitly mentions the name "Serkan ANILIR". According to the article, Dr. Anilir had submitted a document issued by Turkish Ministry of Transportation to the University of Tokyo, as an evidence of his claim that he is an astronaut candidate.  (It is not clear from the article when the document was submitted by Dr. Anilir. Maybe during the recent investigation.) However, on November 13th, Asahi Shimbun obtained a written comment from Turkish government that "the document is not issued by Turkish MInistry of Transportation, and the content does not represent the fact".

The article also reports that Dr. Anilir also submitted similar letters which are supposed to be issued by NASA and a Professor in the US who invited him to NASA projects. However, they also denied the authenticity of the letters.

Asahi Shimbun interviewed Dr. Anilir in late October about the suspicion surrounding his astronaut candidate claim. He told the newspaper that he took an astronaut training course, based on an agreement between Turkish Air Force and NASA. He could not speak more details because it is a military matter.

The article also reports the problems with his publication list, which was already published by Nikkei.

Well, misrepresenting career in Japan is one thing (which would be certainly very bad), but fabricating an official document from Turkish government is quite another. Wouldn't it be a criminal offense in Turkey? Maybe Dr. Anilir is feeling so sorry about the problem, that he is cornering himself? An interesting observation is that, apparently he did not submit an "official document" from Turkish Air Force which played part according to his story. (see also this entry.)

Finally, mass media is catching up

Breaking news ----

Nihon Keizai (abbrev. Nikkei) Shimbun, one of the largest newspapers and probably the most important financial newspaper in Japan, reported problems of "Assistant Professors of the University of Tokyo". The web article is here (in Japanese). In the printed evening issue of November 9th (Monday), more details are given.

Although Nikkei does not give the name of the person explicitly, it describes the person as

• Male Assistant Professor in his 30s, at School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo
• Obtained Ph. D. in Architecture from the University of Tokyo, in 2003
• Belonged to JAXA as a researcher on termed contract, until 2005
• Recruited by the University of Tokyo as "Joshu" in 2005, and "Jokyo" in 2007
• Has written books on the space etc.
• Appeared in various media
• Claimed being the "first Turkish Astronaut Candidate", presenting a photo of himself wearing NASA spacesuit

Well, that should be more than enough to specify the person. You will also find that all of the above descriptions are completely consistent with what has been discussed in this blog.

Nikkei article reports that JAXA removed 4 papers from the activity report for the year 2003 because "their existence could not be proved". According to JAXA, in one of the 4 papers, the name of an author of an existing paper was replaced by his name. Another paper was claimed to be published in "Physical Review Letters" (PRL), one of the most respected journals in physics, but it cannot be found in any issue of PRL. Well, they are not news at all, for the readers of this blog :)

The Nikkei article, nevertheless, gives several interesting new information. According to the article, NASA commented that "There is no such fact (that Dr. Anilir is an Astronaut Candidate). Now the issue is investigated by NASA security office."

Moreover, Nikkei published comments by Dr. Anilir himself about the problems. According to the article, concerning the paper in which he replaced different person's name by his name, he claimed that he "wrote an article with the same content in Turkish." Concerning the non-existent paper in PRL, he "submitted a draft". FInally, concerning the Astronaut Candidate, he "participated in a special program between NASA and Turkish Air Force" (hey, didn't he write that he did not have military background??).

In addition, Jiji, a major news agency in Japan, also reported the problem on web (in Japanese). It is rumored that there will be more coverage in the morning issue of newspapers today (November 10th).

Moved to a new domain / Access from Turkey

I learned that, access from Turkey to blogspot.com (and to several other internet services provided by Google) is blocked due to some "problematic" contents hosted in the same domain. (Presumably NOT this blog :-) )

So I have moved this blog to a new domain:  now the URL is http://dranilir.research-integrity.net/ .

The old address (dranilir.blogspot.com) is of course still valid (automatically forwarded to the new address).

If you are from Turkey, have friends in Turkey, or familiar with Turkish internet forums, please spread the new address to people in Turkey. Thanks!

I suppose that access to the new place is not blocked, but please let me know if there is a problem. (Of course, your access is not blocked if you are reading this, but please let me know if you know somebody in Turkey who cannot read this.) I apologize for any inconvenience.

Dr. Anilir's official positions

-- Update:  One of us asked the University of Tokyo about exact nature of Dr. Anilir's employment status: we obtained the confirmation that his "Jokyo" position is permanent one, not on a termed contract. In addition, it seems that official English title for "Jokyo" is "Assistant Professor", according to the policy of School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo.


A few readers from Turkey questioned about precise nature of Dr. Anilir's position.

What we confirmed is as follows:

• In March 2003, he obtained Ph. D. in Engineering from the University of Tokyo.
• After that, in Academic Year 2003, he was a "Space and Astronautical Project Research Staff" at ISAS (research division of JAXA).
• There is no record of Dr. Anilir's exact position for Academic Year 2004. However, it is likely that he continued his "Project Research Staff" position in 2004 as well.
• Since Academic Year 2005, he is an Assistant Professor at Department of Architechture, Faculty of Engineering, the University of Tokyo. No official affiliation with ISAS can be found since then.

In Japan, Academic Year starts in April (for example, Academic Year 2003 is from April 2003 to March 2004).

NOTE: Most of the links in this posting refer to documents in Japanese. Maybe they are not very useful for non-Japanese readers, but they are provided so that anyone can verify in principle.

I do not know what the "Project Research Staff" means at ISAS, but it usually implies an entry-level research position funded by some project money. Namely, it is not a regular (permanent) faculty or staff member of ISAS (JAXA). In fact, he does not appear in the "List of Researchers" in the ISAS annual report. This does not mean he was not at ISAS, but he was not part of the regular faculty/staff. His position was perhaps a good start for a fresh Ph. D., but looks nothing exceptional. In the annual report of ISAS for 2003, his name appears in the "Research Activity" section with the above title (and in the Publications and Presentations section.) In the annual report of ISAS for 2004, his name appears only in the Publications and Presentations section; there is no clear indication of his title. His name still does not appear on the "List of Researchers", it seems that he was not a regular faculty/staff in 2004 and in any academic year until 2007. His name is not found also in the current list of faculties at ISAS.

In any case, there is no evidence that Dr. Anilir was a "Director" of any Department at ISAS.

Dr. Anilir obtained the position "Joshu" at the University of Tokyo in 2005. The literal English translation of "Joshu" is "Assistant", maybe similar to Dozent in German system. However, the actual job was often much more independent than "Assistant", strongly depending on each place. Standard English translation was perhaps "Research Associate", but some people used "Assistant Professor " for "Joshu". "Joshu" was a part of faculty but usually they did not lecture regular class. In Science Departments, their job is often to take care of student experiment session. Since Academic Year 2007, Japanese Universities are regulated by a new law and the title of the job was changed to "Jokyo". Dr. Anilir also was transferred to "Jokyo" position. According to the new law, "Jokyo" is more like an independent faculty and closer to "Assistant Professor". In many places, the reality of the job did not change very much, however, before and after the new law. One indication of the tradition is that his group is still called as "Matsumura-Fujita Lab" (because of Professor Matsumura and Associate Professor Fujita in the group, without referring to Dr. Anilir). In any case, it would be fair to say that Dr. Anilir has been enjoying much of academic(??) freedom before and after 2007, without much pressure to "assist" his Professor.

For the English translation of "Jokyo", "Research Associate" is still popular but "Assistant Professor" is also used (and is closer to the spirit of the new law.) I think each University or Department has some policy on the translation. I do not know the policy of his Department, but probably it is legitimate for him to use the title of Assistant Professor, in English. However, there seems no justification for his frequent use of the title "Associate Professor" (see for example the slide in the photo from his talk in Korea.)

The difference between "Assistant Professor" and "Associate Professor", however, might look a negligible problem after seeing grandiose claims found in former Turkish Wikipedia article.......

More from Kenchiku-Zasshi

Continuation from the previous post:

Prof. Taro Igarashi, an Associate Professor at Department of Architecture and Building Science, Tohoku University, and the Editor-in-Chief of Kenchiku-Zasshi (a journal published by Architectural Institute of Japan) started his own twitter.

He tweets

"If I am still on the editorial board, I would like to publish an urgent special article on 'why the Serkan affair has happened?' "

"Concerning publication of the article featuring Serkan in the October issue: should we comment something in December issue? I am contacting relevant people. Will the official announcement from School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, be made before the deadline for the issue? It's a battle against time."

Again, I am quite impressed and appreciate his openness about the problem, and that he is treating it seriously.

(Note: Family names, not given names, are usually used in Japan outside family. However, Dr. Anilir mostly refers himself as "Serkan", so he is known as "Serkan" or "Mr. Serkan" in Japan.)

Under investigation? (remarks added)

Breaking News------

Dr. Shunsuke Kurakata, a well-known scholar on architectural history, said in his tweet (at 2:51AM Oct 27th)

"The person is now under official questioning. School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo will soon make an official announcement. It seems that the person is shocked."

Additional Remarks:

It appears that Dr. Kurakata became aware of the questions surrounding Dr. Anilir, only very recently on Oct 25th. After that, he often tweets about Dr. Anilir. Dr. Kurakata is on the editorial board of Kenchiku-Zasshi (Journal of Architecture and Building Science), a journal mostly in Japanese language, published by Architectural Institute of Japan (Society of Architects and Architectural Scholars).

As an interesting coincidence, we learned that the current issue of Kenchiku-Zasshi includes an article featuring Dr. Anilir as an "Intelligent navigator, who opens up the future". Dr. Kurakata quotes the Editor-in-Chief of the journal saying "This is a human version of Sokal Affair!".

While they might have to reflect seriously on their editorial policy, we appreciate the openness of Dr. Kurakata and his colleagues.

Canceled!

Dr. Serkan Anilir was invited to speak at "TEDx Taipei" in Taiwan, on October 17th. His name was on the program until a few days before the event. As always, he was introduced as an "Astronaut Candidate". However, mysteriously, his trace cannot be found anywhere in the final program.

He was also invited to speak at a Symposium in Sendai, Japan, organized by Miyagi University on November 5th, together with a famous architect Mr. Kitagawara. Again, he was introduced as an "Astronaut Candidate", and he was supposed to speak about "environment of earth, viewed from the space." However, we just learned that apparently his name is now removed from the program - by strikeouts! It seems that there was more mercy in Taiwan.

The reason of the cancellation is not known :-) We can just tell you that, apparently quite a few people alerted the organizers of something.......

How to send an accusation, in the 21st Century

Friends, I am sorry for not posting a new entry for a week. Did you think that I was running out of new materials? It is in fact quite the opposite: I am overwhelmed by too many materials! Hopefully I will be able to cover them, one by one.

Meanwhile, there were some developments in Japan. A nice guy :-) finally sent out an official inquiry to the University of Tokyo, concerning Dr. Anilir's use of research funding. There is a dedicated address (operated by an independent office), in order to receive accusation on possible misuse of research funds at the University of Tokyo. Accusations is not a new business, but the new aspect this time is that he made the letter public, along with the postal tracking code, on the internet. Anyone could track the delivery of the letter :-) [The letter was delivered to the office, and then already forwarded to the University.] Did anybody foresee such a use of the internet?

Want to see the photo of the package? also this one?

Plagiarism in 11 dimensions

Dr. Anilir claims he is a cosmologist who studied "11 dimensional theory of the universe". In his book "Space Elevator", he tries to explain his "theory" to the readers. Because it is a book for general public, he does not attempt to explain scientific details. (It is certainly understandable. However, we do not find any serious scientific paper on cosmology by him.) Instead, he shows several nice-looking figures to illustrate his "theory".

However, unfortunately, many of them seem to belong to other authors.

In page 66 of "Space Elevator", Dr. Anilir presents a figure with the caption "'Anilir model of the universe' from the viewpoint of the newly created concept of 'outside the universe'".
However, the identically-looking figure can be found at the web page of Dr. Schombert at University of Orgeon : http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/lectures/cosmo_101.html See also http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/copyright.html
The original figure of the curved surface seems to be (shown above, the figure in black and white)
William P. Thurston and Jeffrey R. Weeks. The Mathematics of Three-dimensional Manifolds. Scientific American, pages 108--120, July 1984.


Dr. Anilir is even selling "11-dimensional universe T-shirts": http://bearing.ws/
The web site claims "Let's start traveling another dimension, wearing the shape of the universe nobody has seen before." Sorry, I am afraid that the shape was seen before....

Likewise, he presents a strange-looking figure in page 65, with the caption "Model of the '11-dimensional theory of the universe' submitted to a physics journal of Cambridge University. A new concept going beyond the standard theory in cosmology was proposed."

Curiously, however, the same figure appears to illustrate "4-dimensional house" in the web article featuring Dr. Anilir: http://magazine.moonlinx.jp/sp/000490.html Apparently Dr. Anilir himself is rather confused. Is it 11-dimensional or 4-dimensional?

In fact, again, we can find the identical figure at

http://ucdarnet.org/gallery/novak-legrady.php
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/3764362944

In page 71, he again shows a beautiful picture with the caption "'Outside the universe' captured by 11-dimensional point of view. Looking from 'outside the universe', there exist various universes with different laws from the environment in the earth. The universe is kept by the balance of each." (Sorry if this does not sound meaningful; I tried to translate what the original Japanese caption says.)

Now, we are not so much surprised when we find the identically-looking figure elsewhere:

http://az.theforceisstrong.co.uk/entranced/graphics.php (second of the figures at the top)
(A bigger figure, shown above, was salvaged from the internet archive)

So, what about Dr. Anilir's "11-dimensional theory of the universe"? We don't find any scientific paper of him on the subject, and several figures which are supposed to represent the theory are apparently taken from works of other people.....

SERKAN College

A reader from Turkey asked about "SERKAN College" - what is it?

http://serkancollege.jp/ (content is in Japanese)

In short, it is not really a college or university. It has no official status as an educational institution and does not grant any degree. However, of course, people attending the "SERKAN College" are well aware of that and there should be no misunderstanding among the participants about this point.

"SERKAN College" is in fact an opportunity to attend a series of lectures (6 lectures of 2 hours each), given approximately once every two months, by Dr. Anilir. Someone has made the arrangement and taken the task of organization. You have to pay 10,000 Japanese Yen (about US$ 110 as of writing this) to attend each lecture, so 60,000 Yen in total to attend the entire series. They do not have their own building but are renting some lecture rooms. "SERKAN College" has been offered in three cities: Tokyo, Osaka, and Shizuoka. In Tokyo, they write that the capacity is 80 people and it was filled quickly.

So it is not a college in usual sense at all. However, it is remarkable that quite a few people are willing to pay 10,000 Yen each time (and spend their precious time) to attend Dr. Anilir's lectures. And their purpose is not to obtain any degree or qualification; they are motivated by genuine interest in his lectures. This certainly underwrites his talking skill. On the other hand, as always, he is introduced as "cosmologist" "astronaut candidate" and so on, at "SERKAN College". And he is supposed to talk, for example, about cosmology as a "cosmologist". Most attendants apparently believe in those "experiences" and "qualifications" of Dr. Anilir. What a shock for them, if they learn many of the claims might not be true?

In every field, there is a pioneer

Even a genius like Dr. Anilir must pay respect for his forerunners.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elias_Alsabti

But perhaps Dr. Alsabti did not get as far as publishing several books for public, being invited to various governmental committees, opening a "college" with his name........

Did the Turkish Air Force General recommend Dr. Anilir to NASA for an astronaut candidate?

Response from readers in Turkey indicates that, in Turkey, Armed Forces are very serious and fearful presence. So, I would like to provide more details about what Dr. Anilir told about his relation to Turkish Air Force General in his books.

I am showing images of Pages 15 - 17 from his book "Space Elevator". (See this entry for his books.) The relevant paragraphs, starting at the bottom of Page 15, reads (in Japanese):

その後、研究者としてNASAに行っていたある日、たまたま僕の母国トルコの空軍長が、NASA事業団のトップや米軍関係者と会談にやって来た。その当時のトルコでは、国内初めての宇宙飛行士を輩出しようという世論が盛り上がっていたのだが、一般に宇宙飛行士候補には軍関係者が多く、ほとんどの場合、空軍のパイロットや軍関係の研究者が選ばれるのが慣例だった。

僕もNASAで活躍するトルコ人として、その場に呼ばれ紹介してもらったのだが、特に長い会話をすることもなく、NASAでの研究内容や、過去の学歴など二、三の質問をされ、席を立った。

空軍長直々の推薦で、宇宙飛行士の候補の一人に選ばれた、とトルコから連絡があったのは、日本に帰ってきた後のことだ。

(skip to Page 17)

軍人でもない建築構法専攻の僕が、空軍長の推薦を受けられた理由。それは、スキー選手として国の代表になった実績があり、健康面で有利。空が好きだった一心で、大学時代に取得したパイロットの資格。様々な国に住んでいたから学べた、何か国語もの語学力。そして、宇宙開発に関わる研究をしていることだという。

空軍長という立場にありながら、軍人でもない僕を評価して、候補に加えてくれた彼の姿勢と柔軟な発想には、人間として頭が下がる思いだ。

人と人との出会いが、新しい旅を生み出す。

This may be translated to English as follows:

Later, when I was visiting NASA as a research scientist, it happens that the Air Force General (NOTE: the correct translation may be the Commander of the Air Force -- thanks for the comment) of my home country, Turkey, came to meet the top administration of NASA and people from American Military.

Around that time, in Turkey, there was a movement to produce the first astronaut from the nation. Usually, most of astronaut candidates have military background; it is customary to choose astronauts from Air Force pilots or research scientists at military institutions.

I was introduced at the meeting, as a Turkish national who was active at NASA. However, we did not talk much on the occasion. I left the table, after being asked just a few questions, like subject of my study at NASA and my academic back ground.

It was only after I came back to Japan, that I was notified I was selected as one of the astronaut candidates, thanks to a direct recommendation by the Air Force General.

The reasons why I won the recommendation by the Air Force general, even though I was not from military and was just majoring in architecture, were the following, I heard: My advantage in physical abilities, as I was once a member of Turkish national ski team. My pilot license that was obtained when I was a college student, just because I was fascinated with the sky. My skill in several languages, thanks to my experience of living in various countries. And finally, the fact that I was working on space development.

Even though he is from military, the Air Force General thought highly of me, who was outside the military, and added me to the list of candidates. This shows his fairness and flexible attitude, which I respect very much.

Meeting between people opens the door to new voyage.

Very vivid and moving story, isn't it? :) However, after seeing the questions surrounding the "astronaut candidate" claim, it might look different. The affiliation with NASA is discussed in another entry. The claim that he was a member of Turkish national ski team will be discussed elsewhere -- but did readers from Turkey know about that?!

There is a similar story on another book "The space in your pocket". Here, he also shows a photograph (shown at bottom) with the Air Force general. Although it was attributed to the later date, the caption clearly says the person in the picture is the General who recommended Dr. Anilir for an astronaut candidate. The caption says (in Japanese)

2008年5月14日。中央で後ろを向いているのはトルコの空軍長。僕を宇宙飛行士に推薦してくれた人物だ。イズミール大学で。

May 14th, 2008. The person in the center, showing his back, is Turkish Air Force General. This is the person who recommended me for an astronaut. At Izmir(?) University.

We can imagine how the Turkish Air Force General was proud and happy when he saw Dr. Aniril, who was selected as an astronaut candidate because of his recommendation, in spacesuit with stars and stripes on shoulder.

The apparently same photograph in color (shown below) can be found in his Japanese blog: (dated Dec 9, 2007) http://blog.anilir.net/?eid=622294
Strangely, in his blog, he describes the photo as a scene from "Infra-Free Workshop" at Izmir Economic University, in December 2007 (whereas the photo is dated as May 14th, 2008.) In the blog, he also says that the woman standing next to him is his mother.

According to the comment by Arda Mevlutoglu:
The young man in uniform is an NCO-cadet. He is in his second year in NCO School, hence the Roman numeral "II" just above the crescent and the star figure in the rank insignia. You can also see the letters "M.Y.O.", the abbreviation of "Meslek Yuksek Okulu", which translates as "Occupational High School" (?). M.Y.O is the place where NCO's are trained.

This basically means that, the older man in uniform standing against the camera is basically in charge of the younger man in uniform, i.e NCO-cadets. From this angle and color density, my educated guess is, he is a major, hence the silhouette of his rank symbols on top of his shoulders. He is light years away from being a general and aeons away from being the commander of Turkish Air Force or any other person who is authorized to advise Mr Anilir to any position such as an astronaut!