Politics
Istanbul’s former mayor set for key hearing on corruption
Almost one year after his arrest, Istanbul’s former mayor, Ekrem Imamoğlu, will make his first appearance at the hearing of a sprawling corruption case. The popular figure of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) will join more than 400 defendants in the trial in Istanbul on Monday.
Dubbed “corruption of the century” by some Turkish media outlets, Imamoğlu and his associates at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) are accused of involvement in 143 acts of bribery and corruption. Their actions cost the public TL 161 billion ($3.65 billion), according to the prosecutors.
The businessman-turned-mayor faces prison terms up to 2,352 years for multiple instances of the corruption that mainly revolves around bribery accusations from businesspeople in exchange of operating, construction permits and accusations of widespread rigging in lucrative tenders of the municipality.
The trial, which is expected to take about two months before the court reaches a verdict or decides on postponing it to another date, will take place inside a courtroom in the Marmara courthouse-prison complex where Imamoğlu and others are being held since March 2025.
In their indictment of 3,806 pages, prosecutors named Imamoğlu as the leader of a criminal ring thriving on corruption. The court will question the mayor, the municipal bureaucrats and people doing business with the municipality on accusations of taking luxury residences as bribes and stacks of cash stored in a currency exchange office, which were reportedly illicit gains of the “Imamoğlu gang” and alleged secret transfer of bribe money from lucrative excavation businesses to abroad. Imamoğlu is among the 105 defendants who are in pre-trial custody while seven defendants remain at large. Other defendants were earlier released pending trial.
Along with corruption accusations, Imamoğlu faces charges of illegally obtaining personal data, money laundering and deliberate pollution of environment, related to other crimes he is accused of, such as alleged sale of personal information of Istanbul’s residents through a municipality app.
The indictment says Imamoğlu’s criminal organization was similar to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which is notorious for its infiltration into public institutions. Prosecutors say a network similar to FETÖ’s cells was established by Imamoğlu and others at the Istanbul municipality and district municipalities (also run by the CHP) of Türkiye’s most populated city. The suspects used counter-intelligence tactics to avoid detection, the prosecutors say.
The mayor both sought personal enrichment and buying his way toward the full control of the CHP, the indictment says. Imamoğlu was picked as a future presidential candidate of the CHP after his arrest. Prior to an intra-party election in the CHP in 2023, Imamoğlu was caught red-handed as he lobbied for the ouster of the party’s chair, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. He is named in another trial on alleged vote-buying in the intra-party election where he and others are accused of offering cash to delegates in exchange for votes for the Kılıçdaroğlu rival Özgür Özel. The “personal enrichment” cited by prosecutors includes three villas in Istanbul’s upscale Emirgan neighborhood worth TL 1.5 billion, which were not included in declaration of assets by mayoral candidates at the elections. The indictment also includes witness statements on a private jet, which made multiple flights abroad to carry cash accumulated by Imamoğlu’s criminal ring to London. The flights between 2022 and 2025 were arranged by Murat Gülibrahimoğlu, a fugitive defendant in the case.
The indictment reveals that Taç Döviz, a firm named in a separate money laundering investigation, acted as a “custodian” for the criminal proceeds of the ring led by Imamoğlu.
Although the mayor is facing a slew of legal cases, Monday’s trial is by far the biggest. In a separate case, Imamoğlu is facing an even more significant legal obstacle: a lawsuit challenging the validity of his university degree, a constitutional requirement for presidential candidates.
Imamoğlu maintained his innocence in remarks made to public before the trial began, though he did not offer an elaborate defense, apparently saving it for the trial. His party also claims that the trial is politically motivated, pointing to the arrests of other CHP mayors before and after Imamoğlu’s arrest. In all cases, mayors were arrested on charges of corruption and some cases were directly linked to Imamoğlu himself. The main opposition staged rallies every evening in a different city after Imamoğlu’s arrest, to protest it and other cases.
Some suspects who collaborated with authorities as part of a plea deal claimed Imamoğlu sought to fund his campaign for the presidency through bribes.
System of corruption
Ertan Yıldız, the former head of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s department overseeing the subsidiaries, was among those collaborating with authorities. Speaking to the Yeni Şafak newspaper in an interview published on Sunday, Yıldız detailed the “system” of corruption. “Imamoğlu always wanted to be president. It is not an evil goal but it matters how you try to achieve it. If Imamoğlu did not get himself into (this corruption), he would be a strong presidential contender. He did not have to do this, he did not have to be greedy,” he said.
Yıldız said Imamoğlu and his associates earned “resources” through lucrative tenders, especially on road maintenance and excavation. He said Gülibrahimoğlu was behind the usage of the vast Cebeci mining field for dumping construction leftovers. “This place was supposed to be run by a municipal subsidiary but was leased to another company and was unregulated. They launched tenders but the dumping was uncontrolled. They had a partnership of corruption, between Gülibrahimoğlu, Fatih Keleş and Ibrahim Bülbüllü,” he said, referring to other municipal figures.
“Overall, they had a lucrative system bringing in $150 million to 200 million yearly. They used to earn cash from minor tenders in the past but over time, they reaped more elsewhere,” he said, pointing out to reconstruction or construction permits at scenic Bosporus route of Istanbul. “They took bribes of $1 million for permits. All were delivered in bags,” he said.
He said Gülibrahimoğlu earned $10 million-20 million from the Cebeci mining field and when he objected to his schemes to funnel cash to his company, he complained. “But Imamoğlu supported him,” he claimed.
Digging deeper into an alleged criminal network run by Imamoğlu and expanding another investigation linked to a businessperson whom the district municipalities had awarded lucrative contracts, investigators launched further operations, rounding up municipal bureaucrats and other mayors throughout 2025.
France on Monday denounced the launch of a ballistic missile from Iran toward Türkiye, calling on Tehran to immediately stop what it described as unjustified attacks in the region.
“France condemns in the strongest possible terms the Iranian missile launch that was intercepted in Turkish airspace by the missile defense system of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),” France’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The statement added that Paris stands alongside its allies and partners “who have been drawn into the conflict against their will.” Both France and Türkiye are longstanding members of the NATO alliance.
“Iran must cease unjustified strikes targeting states in the region,” it added.
The Defense Ministry said Monday that a ballistic missile that was fired from Iran into Turkish airspace was neutralized by NATO air and missile defense assets deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The ministry said some debris from the missile fell onto vacant land in the country’s southeastern Gaziantep province, adding that there were no casualties or injuries.
The development came amid the ongoing U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, launched on Feb. 28, which have so far killed more than 1,200 people, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Tehran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries that are home to U.S. military assets.
Vera Çelik, a 20-year-old Turkish Swiss candidate, has become the first headscarf-wearing member elected to Zurich’s municipal council, marking a milestone for political representation and religious freedom in Switzerland.
Çelik was elected from Zurich’s 10th District as a representative of the Social Democratic Party (SP), according to official election results on Sunday. She secured 4,772 votes in the municipal council race.
Currently training as a dental assistant, Çelik is the first politician in Zurich to serve on the city council while wearing a headscarf.
Her election has drawn attention both within Switzerland and among the Turkish community, where it has been widely welcomed as a significant moment for political participation and diversity.
Çelik has been active in campaigns addressing social justice issues and discrimination, including advocacy against headscarf restrictions and anti-Muslim sentiment in Switzerland.
She has also been involved in debates within the Social Democratic Party over workplace equality. Her efforts contributed to discussions that resulted in a party congress decision supporting the right of teachers to wear headscarves in schools.
The young politician has frequently appeared in Swiss media in recent years while speaking out against policies and rhetoric targeting Muslim women, particularly those who wear headscarves.
Her election from Zurich, Switzerland’s largest city, was greeted with celebration among many members of the Turkish community in the country, who see it as a step toward greater representation of minorities in local politics.
Turkish Ambassador to Bern Şebnem İncesu called Çelik to congratulate her after the election results were announced and also sent a message to her father, Ömür Çelik, a journalist and the publisher of the Turkish-language Post newspaper in Switzerland.
“There could not have been a better gift on International Women’s Day,” Incesu said, referring to March 8.
Türkiye’s consul general in Zurich, Fazlı Çorman, also congratulated Çelik by phone and wished her success in her new role.
Municipal councils in Switzerland play a key role in local governance, overseeing issues such as urban planning, education, social services and community policy.
Türkiye’s foreign and defense ministers will brief Parliament on Tuesday about U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, escalating tensions in the Middle East and measures taken by Ankara in response, according to parliamentary sources.
According to the information obtained by Anadolu Agency (AA) reporters, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Defense Minister Yasar Güler are expected to address lawmakers at Parliament under Article 59 of the parliamentary bylaws, which allows ministers to provide information to Parliament on significant national and international developments.
The briefing will take place during Tuesday’s General Assembly session, where the ministers are expected to outline the latest developments in the Middle East, including the risk of the conflict spreading and its potential impact on regional security.
Parliament will decide after the session opens whether the briefing will be held behind closed doors. The meeting is widely expected to take place in a closed session, parliamentary sources said.
If the session is closed, journalists and visitors will not be allowed inside the General Assembly hall, and rooms adjacent to the chamber will be cleared and sealed for the duration of the meeting.
Following the ministers’ briefing, the closed session will end and lawmakers will resume the parliamentary agenda in an open session.
Records and summaries of closed parliamentary sessions can only be made public after 10 years under parliamentary rules.
Israel further expanded its heavy bombardment of Iran overnight Sunday, carrying out waves of strikes on civilian infrastructure, including fuel depots near Tehran, as fighting escalated on day 10 of the U.S.-Israeli campaign.
Lebanon was also drawn into the Middle East war last week, when Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during U.S.-Israeli strikes.
Lebanese authorities said nearly 400 people have been killed over the past week as Israel struck a hotel in central Beirut on Sunday, marking the first attack on the city center since the latest war against Hezbollah began.
Previous briefing sessions
Türkiye’s parliament has previously held several closed sessions on regional security issues. On Oct. 12, 2023, Fidan briefed lawmakers in a closed session on Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
Fidan and Güler also addressed parliament on Jan. 16, 2024, regarding a terrorist attack in the area of Operation Claw-Lock, which was conducted by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in northern Iraq and the broader security situation in the region.
In another closed session on Oct. 8, 2024, the two ministers briefed lawmakers on developments surrounding Israel’s military actions in Lebanon.
Fidan also spoke before parliament on Aug. 29, 2025, during an extraordinary session convened to discuss Israel’s war in Gaza and the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday that Iran has not targeted Türkiye or several neighboring countries amid the ongoing conflict with Israel and the United States, as fighting entered its 10th day.
Speaking at a press briefing in Tehran, spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Iranian forces had not launched attacks against Türkiye, Azerbaijan or the Greek Cypriot administration from Iranian territory.
“Iran’s armed forces have not targeted Türkiye, Azerbaijan or (the island of) Cyprus, and no attacks have been launched against these countries from Iranian soil,” Baghaei said.
The remarks came amid heightened tensions in the region following a series of strikes by Israel and the United States against Iranian targets.
Baghaei said Iranians were prepared to defend their country and insisted that the future of Iran would be determined by “the will of the Iranian people.”
He accused Washington of undermining diplomatic efforts that had been underway before the attacks began.
“While we were engaged in diplomatic talks, they launched a war,” he said.
Addressing the possibility of a cease-fire, Baghaei said discussions about ending the conflict would be meaningless as long as attacks against Iran continued.
“As long as the aggression continues, there is no meaning in talking about anything other than defense and retaliation against our enemies,” he said.
Baghaei also suggested that some reported attacks could be fabricated, warning that “the enemy” might stage false incidents in an attempt to create divisions between Iran and other countries in the region.
Türkiye’s Ministry of National Defense said last week that a ballistic munition launched from Iran and directed toward Turkish airspace was detected after crossing Iraqi and Syrian airspace. The projectile was intercepted and neutralized by NATO air and missile defense units deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Türkiye summoned Iran’s ambassador to Ankara to convey a formal protest and expressed deep concern over the incident. Officials stressed that any steps that could expand ongoing conflicts or further destabilize the region must be avoided.
Following the missile incident, several organizations and states condemned the attack and voiced solidarity with Türkiye, including NATO, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Spain, the UAE, Albania, Belgium, Pakistan and Italy.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry reported that drones launched from Iranian territory had targeted the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. Following the incident, Iran’s ambassador to Baku, Mojtaba Demirchilou, was summoned and handed a protest note.
Azerbaijan’s close ties with Israel and the recent flareup with Iran have helped perpetuate provocative social media posts in Türkiye.
Türkiye’s Center for Countering Disinformation on Saturday said that Türkiye and Azerbaijan have successfully overcome many challenges together, responding to posts containing criticism, disinformation and provocation targeting Azerbaijan and bilateral relations.
“Closely bound by unshakable historical ties and shared values, Türkiye and Azerbaijan have not only today but also in the past successfully overcome many challenges they faced,” the center, a subsidiary of Turkish Presidency’s Directorate of Communications, said in a statement on the Turkish social media platform NSosyal.
The center also noted that bilateral relations, led at the leadership level by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, continue to be carried out at all levels under the motto “One Nation, Two States.”
It also urged the public to remain cautious against exaggerated rhetoric, disinformation and black propaganda activities that could harm the brotherly ties between the two countries, and to consider official statements made by the authorities of Türkiye and Azerbaijan on critical issues.
At one point, social media posts reached a level calling for severing ties with Baku when Azerbaijan and Iran found themselves at odds after Azerbaijan accused Iran of committing terrorism after a drone strike in Nakhchivan last Thursday. Iran has denied firing any projectiles into Azerbaijan.
Türkiye has not officially taken a side in the ongoing U.S.-Israel-Iran war and urges all sides to stop attacks. Yet, the war has apparently divided Turkish social media sphere, with some calling on Ankara to side with Iran against the imperialist ambitions of the U.S. and Israel. Azerbaijan’s preparation for retaliation against Iran, as evidenced in harsh remarks of President Ilham Aliyev following the Nakhchivan incident, angered this group unconditionally defending Iran. Others in the Turkish social media sphere point to Iran’s past record in the region in what they called a hidden Shiite-Sunni conflict spreading from Syria to Yemen and oppose support to Iran.
Social media was awash with disinformation and propaganda after the war began. Communications Directorate Chair Burhanettin Duran said on Saturday that 41 social media accounts disseminating disinformation and making provocative posts were blocked and 75 posts were removed from digital platforms.
Duran said that the directorate had discovered a massive disinformation campaign and online psychological warfare in light of the latest developments in the region. He also said certain social media accounts deliberately shared unverified content to stir panic and fear in the public, adding that relevant public agencies have been monitoring these actions. “Necessary steps against digital manipulation attempts targeting public order, social peace and national security have been taken,” Duran stated. He noted that the accounts blocked were on digital media platforms, X, Facebook and Instagram.
Spain’s government seems to be effortlessly winning the hearts of Turks amid the U.S.-Israel-Iran war.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s staunch stand against the war despite threats by U.S. President Donald Trump sparked a newfound interest in the Spanish foreign policy among Türkiye’s social media community. Türkiye, like Spain, has refused to take sides in the ongoing war and equally criticized both parties while urging for diplomatic means to resolve their differences.
The European country has already won the admiration of the Turkish public for demonstrating the most passionate opposition to Israel’s massacres in Gaza. Again, the two countries’ policy in opposition to the Netanyahu administration’s genocidal actions in the Palestinian enclave runs largely parallel. But this time, it was the Turkish public who was more vocal in their admiration of Spain over its foreign policy decisions. A Turkish social media user humorously offered free treatment for Spaniards with male pattern baldness in his country, which has become more renowned for hair transplants.
Spain’s rejection of the usage of its territory for U.S. attacks on Iran endeared it so much on social media, another user offered the globally renown skills of Turkish contractors for the “completion of Sagrada Familia,” the largest unfinished Catholic Church in the world.
The Turkish government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are already known for their warm ties with the Sanchez government but the opposition has also jumped on the bandwagon. Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel shared a photo of himself with Sanchez during a Socialist International meeting on Twitter, accompanied with the message “un abrazo fraternal” (a fraternal embrace), while the CHP’s media-savvy lawmaker Mustafa Sarıgül shared a video of himself visiting the Spanish Consulate with a bouquet of flowers.
Sanchez eventually responded to the outpouring of love and shared on Saturday a video of Turkish flag being waved at a rally of his party. “Greeting to the Turkish Twitter community” was his message as the flag was being waved in front of a banner reading “No To War.”
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Minister Gürlek: Regardless of our views, ideas, political thoughts, we must be united on the home front.
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France condemns Iranian missile fired toward Türkiye
Minister Gürlek: Regardless of our views, ideas, political thoughts, we must be united on the home front.
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