Politics
Turkish authorities widen municipal corruption investigations
Turkish authorities detained 27 suspects Monday in a second wave of arrests tied to a bribery investigation into the western Turkish city of Uşak, while a separate high-profile corruption trial involving suspended Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu was set to resume with dozens of defendants appearing before the court.
The operation targeting Usak Municipality was carried out simultaneously in Istanbul, Uşak and Izmir as part of an investigation led by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, according to Turkish authorities.
Prosecutors allege that municipal tenders in Uşak were rigged, that bribes were solicited from local tradesmen in exchange for irregular administrative actions, and that large sums of money were collected for Usakspor under the name of donations and aid.
Authorities also alleged that cash donations were delivered directly to the mayor’s office and that senior municipal officials spent money at entertainment venues, with the expenses later covered through the municipal budget under meal and hospitality bills.
The detentions were based on witness statements, testimony from suspects who cooperated under remorse provisions, digital examination reports and findings from Türkiye’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), officials said.
The latest operation came after nine people, including suspended Uşak Mayor Özkan Yalım, were previously arrested in the same investigation.
In a separate case in Uşak province, Eşme, six suspects tied to an investigation of alleged misconduct were referred to the courthouse after police procedures were completed. Those referred included Eşme Mayor Yılmaz Tozan and his wife, Burcu Tozan.
The Eşme investigation is being conducted under the coordination of the Uşak Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Esme Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Police had detained Tozan, his wife, his driver, a municipal police officer and another municipal employee on April 17. A municipal council member from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) who had been sought under an arrest warrant, was later apprehended. Another suspect was found to already be in prison for a separate offense.
Meanwhile, in Istanbul, a sweeping corruption trial involving hundreds of defendants connected to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) was set to enter its 24th hearing.
The case includes 414 defendants, 92 of whom are under arrest, among them former Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, who was suspended from office after being jailed pending trial.
Prosecutors accuse Imamoğlu, identified in the indictment as the leader of a criminal organization, of a wide range of offenses including forming and leading a criminal group, bribery, money laundering, fraud against public institutions, unlawful collection and dissemination of personal data, destruction of evidence, bid-rigging and abuse of office.
The 3,809-page indictment was completed on Nov. 11, 2025, and seeks prison sentences ranging from 828 years and two months to 2,352 years for Imamoğlu over 142 alleged acts.
The first hearing in the case was held on March 9, and 34 defendants have presented their defenses so far. Proceedings are being held four days a week at a courthouse inside the Marmara Open Prison complex in Silivri, west of Istanbul.
At earlier sessions, the court ordered the release of several defendants, including municipal staff, drivers and businesspeople named in the case.
The court also merged a separate indictment involving seven defendants, including suspended Beyoğlu Mayor Inan Güney, with the main IBB corruption case. Güney and two other defendants were ordered to be present in court for the resumed hearing.
Defense Minister Yaşar Güler hosted his Romanian and Bulgarian counterparts on Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, and the three countries signed a new memorandum for amending the regulations to expand their joint Black Sea mission. The new memorandum involves missions to protect critical infrastructure as well.
The three countries are littoral to the Black Sea, which has become a minefield in both senses of the word after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in 2022. Stray naval mines have threatened maritime security for the countries, while the risk later escalated into stray drones and drone attacks by both sides of the conflict targeting vessels, sometimes far from their shores.
The Turkish-Romanian-Bulgarian task force has neutralized more than 150 mines floating in the Black Sea, and most of the work was done by Türkiye, whose maritime trade was threatened by the conflict. The new memorandum means the expansion of the mission to protect energy infrastructure, telecoms and undersea pipelines operated or owned by the three countries. All three have gas exploration or production projects in the Black Sea. Romania looks to become the European Union’s largest gas producer through its Neptun Deep offshore gas project.
The Black Sea is home to Türkiye’s largest-ever natural gas reserve, which the country has been gradually discovering since 2020. The Sakarya gas field is estimated to contain 710 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas. It will meet approximately 30% of the nation’s annual gas needs once the production reaches total capacity. Last year, Türkiye announced a separate 75 bcm gas discovery in the Black Sea.
Güler met separately with Romanian Defense Minister Radu-Dinel Miruta and Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov in Ankara, and the three ministers later attended a working lunch with NATO defense ministers.
Also on Wednesday, Romania’s Foreign Minister Oana Toiu praised the strong partnership with Türkiye in safeguarding security in the Black Sea.
The work carried out together by Romania, Bulgaria, Türkiye and Ukraine has, for example, made it possible to ensure the flow of grain in recent years, she told Anadolu Agency (AA) in an interview. She also noted the strong participation of Turkish companies in industrial infrastructure investment at the 2025 NATO Industry Forum held in Romania. Referring to her meetings with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, she said they consistently discuss Türkiye’s European perspective.
“The future we envision for Türkiye is focused on its European path,” she said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held closed-door talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on the margins of the NATO summit held at the Presidential Complex on Wednesday.
No statements were made after the meeting that preceded an expected joint declaration at the end of the summit.
Macron, spotted jogging near his hotel on Wednesday morning before the summit began, sported sunglasses as he met Erdoğan, apparently due to an eye condition that also surfaced during his participation in the World Economic Forum in January. The French leader flew into Türkiye from neighboring Syria, where he signed key deals. Twin bomb attacks near his hotel did not disrupt the trip, and Macron joined other leaders in Ankara soon.
France is a founding member of NATO, though it remained detached from the military command of the alliance for decades. In 2019, Macron warned about the “brain death” of NATO, citing declining commitment by the main contributor, the United States. Back then, his remarks, uttered in an interview, were treated with skepticism by other members, but time proved Macron almost right as U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his complaints about what he termed a lack of contribution to the alliance by Europe, threatening to further distance his country from the bloc.
The publication of a joint declaration by NATO leaders at the end of the summit’s second day in Ankara has renewed attention on Türkiye’s expanding role in the alliance, with security experts pointing to Türkiye’s growing strategic weight within the alliance amid evolving internal and external threats.
“We have sharp differences across the Atlantic, there are two threats; one is external and the other is internal.” Edward P Joseph, a foreign policy lecturer and analyst at Johns Hopkins University, told Daily Sabah.
Türkiye hosted the 36th NATO Heads of State and Government Summit in Ankara on July 7-8, with leaders issuing a final declaration reaffirming their “unwavering commitment” to Article 5, the alliance’s collective defense clause, and to the transatlantic bond.
“Russia represents a threat. Iran also, we have to say, represents a threat,” Joseph said.
“An attack against one ally is an attack against all allies,” the declaration said, adding that NATO’s unity, solidarity and collective strength remain the foundation of peace, security and prosperity for 1 billion citizens across the alliance’s free and democratic nations.
The declaration reaffirmed allies’ “unwavering” support for Ukraine, saying the country continues to contribute to transatlantic security while defending its freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
It said European allies and Canada now provide the bulk of security assistance to Ukraine through bilateral and multilateral channels, stressing that such support must remain fair, predictable and sustainable over the long term. Allies pledged 70 billion euros (about $80 billion) in military equipment, assistance and training for Ukraine in 2026 and reaffirmed sovereign commitments to maintain at least the same level of support in 2027.
Addressing broader security challenges, the declaration said NATO would continue adapting to strategic competition, widespread instability, hybrid threats and recurring crises. It reiterated that Iran “must never develop a nuclear weapon” and called on Tehran to fully respect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We also have ambivalence in the United States, this distancing from NATO. President Trump is complaining,” he said hoping that this summit is a reminder to the U.S. leader and all allies of how valuable NATO is.
“The alliance is valuable to Türkiye and it’s valuable to all 32,” he added.
The U.S. president previously criticized the financial burden Washington bears within NATO, arguing that the alliance’s cost-sharing remains unequal.
In a social media post, Trump shared a graphic comparing NATO defense spending by member states and said it was “ridiculous” for the United States to continue what he described as a one-sided relationship. “They were not there for us,” he wrote.
Türkiye’s key role
Turning to Türkiye’s key role in the alliance and its hosting the summit this year, Joseph underlined that the summit has elevated Türkiye’s role and it’s been like a showcase of the country because of the second-largest army in the alliance, and so that’s been very significant.
Türkiye currently contributes nearly 3,000 personnel, along with various weapons, vehicles and military platforms, to ongoing NATO missions, operations and initiatives.
This year, Türkiye joined NATO’s Steadfast Dart exercise in Germany from Feb. 12-24, held to improve the operational readiness of the Allied Reaction Force. The country contributed naval, land and air elements, including the Anadolu Task Group, and deployed a joint force of more than 2,000 personnel to Germany.
“And the summit itself, today is the summit so I want to wait and see what the outcome is. But the dynamics, everything I see and witness having engaged with some of the key officials, I think the dynamics are more positive than people anticipated,” he said.
Since joining NATO, Türkiye has steadily expanded its contributions to the alliance’s missions and operations, including in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Libya and Iraq. Turkish officials say the country has preserved and developed Cold War-era military capabilities while also fighting terrorism and responding to regional instability.
U.S. President Donald Trump thanked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday for successfully hosting the NATO summit.
Trump hailed Erdoğan as “a great leader” and described the two-day summit in the capital, Ankara, as “very successful.”
“We just concluded a very successful NATO summit here in Türkiye,” Trump said at a news conference as the two-day NATO summit ended in the Turkish capital.
Trump thanked Erdoğan for hosting the summit.
“I want to thank President Erdoğan, who’s really a great man. He’s a great leader. He’s a friend of mine, been a friend of mine for a long time. He’s a strong person, a very strong personality, and that’s why he runs such a successful and good country,” he added.
The summit in Ankara brought together leaders of the 32-member alliance as well as key partners to discuss Europe’s defense capacity, the alliance’s defense spending targets, military modernization, and continued support for Ukraine.
Trump said during the summit that they discussed the target of spending 5% of GDP on defense.
“In the working session this morning, we discussed the progress other members are making toward the 5% target … some have truly answered the call and others are making big changes, and will be answering the call … I urge all nations to accelerate their plans to get to the benchmark as quickly as possible,” he added.
Trump said there was “tremendous unity” in the summit.
“And I urge all nations to accelerate their plans to get the benchmark as quickly as possible. The benchmark is going to be that 5% number; that’s the number it should have been for years,” he added.
French President Emmanuel Macron was spotted running on Wednesday morning on the streets of the Turkish capital Ankara, where he arrived to attend the NATO summit.
Accompanied by his bodyguards and French officials, Macron waved to media crews and the public as he sprinted around Seğmenler Park and near Çankaya, a former presidential residence, after he left his hotel. He was expected to join other leaders at the summit venue for a family photo and the official launch of the leaders’ session at the event.
Türkiye has earlier denied reports that certain routes in Ankara would be shut down exclusively for Macron’s jogging routine. Tight security was all around the capital anyway for the 36th summit of NATO heads of state and governments, where leaders from Donald Trump to Italy’s Giorgia Meloni will attend.
Macron barely skips his morning runs in trips abroad and has been spotted jogging during visits to China, India and Egypt.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek on Monday criticized the European Parliament Türkiye rapporteur, Nacho Sanchez Amor, over remarks about the country’s judiciary, saying no one could interfere in Türkiye’s ongoing judicial proceedings or attempt to pressure its courts.
In a statement posted on social media, Gürlek said Türkiye is “an independent, sovereign and democratic state governed by the rule of law,” adding that judicial authority is exercised by independent and impartial courts on behalf of the Turkish nation.
He said the monitoring of judicial proceedings in Türkiye by international actors reflected the country’s democratic maturity and transparency, but argued that comments made about ongoing cases amounted to an unacceptable attempt to influence the judiciary.
“It is unacceptable to make statements at courthouse doors as if delivering a verdict on pending cases. Such remarks target the Turkish judiciary and seek to place judicial processes under political pressure,” Gürlek said.
The minister stressed that judicial proceedings in Türkiye are conducted in accordance with the Constitution, domestic laws, evidence presented in court and the decisions of independent judges, rather than the political agendas, ideological expectations or lobbying efforts of foreign actors.
“No one can point a finger at Turkish courts, attempt to influence ongoing trials, place the Turkish judiciary under pressure or interfere in our country’s internal affairs,” he said.
Gürlek also said Türkiye had safeguarded its national will under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan against what he described as tutelary forces, coup plotters, terrorist organizations and those seeking to lecture the country on democracy from abroad.
His comments came in response to recent remarks by Sanchez Amor concerning Türkiye’s judiciary and ongoing legal proceedings.
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