Politics
Businessman reveals rampant corruption at Istanbul municipality
Ali Nuhoğlu, a businessperson detained last March in a corruption probe against Istanbul municipality and its Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, unveiled more bribes that the municipal officials took from him. Nuhoğlu was among dozens of suspects detained as part of the probe. Imamoğlu and others arrested in the case are accused of taking bribes from businesses in exchange for building permits and rigging public tenders. Most of those arrested in the probe are the municipality’s top bureaucrats and businesspeople who bribed their way into lucrative tenders.
Nuhoğlu collaborated with authorities earlier in exchange for release and testified twice about the alleged wrongdoings of the municipal officials. His third statement, published by the Sabah newspaper on Wednesday, showed he shared the evidence of bribes he paid disguised as legitimate payments.
The construction tycoon made the headlines when an investigation found he sold three villas in Istanbul’s upscale Emirgan quarters to a construction company owned by the mayor’s family, for a price well below market value. Nuhoğlu came forward in June, agreeing to a plea deal. In his earlier testimony, Nuhoğlu presented official documents about payments he made (through his employees) to municipal officials and others linked to Imamoğlu. On one occasion, he paid $640,000 to Zafer Keleş, brother of Fatih Keleş, who chaired Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s (IBB) sports club before his arrest alongside Imamoğlu, and the cash was delivered in person to the younger Keleş by an employee of Nuhoğlu in 2022 as a form of bribe. He confessed he also delivered $700,000 to Keleş a few months later in the same year.
Nuhoğlu told investigators that he also handed over $1.5 million in March 2024 to Ibrahim Bülbüllü, legal adviser for IBB, who remains at large in the corruption probe. “I paid it to facilitate payments to my company,” he confessed. He also shared details about locations and dates of payments his employees delivered to IBB in cash, from a construction site to restaurants run by the municipality. He testified that only after he delivered the cash through his employees was he able to receive progress payments for contracts he made with the municipality.
Earlier this month, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) issued a report accusing Imamoğlu of seven counts of laundering ill-gotten assets. Imamoğlu, along with Tuncay Yılmaz, general manager of Imamoğlu Construction Company, is suspected of laundering 25 immovable properties, TL 63.5 million ($1.6 million) and 637,106 euros ($731,078), MASAK said in a report. The seven counts of laundering range from illicit real estate purchasing contracts and unlawful sale of immovable properties to cover up financial transactions by pushing sums through various personal and corporate bank accounts and cash submissions by individuals with red-flagged financial profiles.
MASAK said the investigation was expanded to include Yılmaz, Imamoğlu Construction Company, SSB Real Estate Industry and Trade Inc. and Güllüce Agriculture Industry and Trade Inc. The board detected TL 35.2 million in the bank accounts of Imamoğlu Construction Company, all of which was submitted in cash and whose source could not be determined.
The board also found irregularities in the transfer of Güllüce Agriculture shares owned by Ali Nuhoğlu, who was released after pleading effective remorse, to Imamoğlu’s construction company.
According to the board, Imamoğlu and the companies involved supplied financing with high sums whose origins could not be traced and registered in the current accounts differently from the normal process. They also made a purchase strongly suspected to be prearranged look like a commercial purchase and even created an invoice that was recorded in the company’s legal books.
All of these were preceded by accounting tricks in commercial records, the report said.
The report also included testimonies from some suspects in the case.
Furkan Hamzaoğlu, a construction company owner and one of the suspects in the case, alleged he gave away shops and apartments to Adem Soytekin, another businessperson arrested alongside Imamoğlu, to obtain a construction license in Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district. He claimed four of these apartments were transferred to the ownership of Imamoğlu’s father, Hasan Imamoğlu.
Thousands of people gathered in the capital Ankara on Sunday for a major rally calling for a humanitarian corridor into the Palestinian enclave Gaza suffering under Israel’s genocidal attacks.
The rally, organized by the Ankara Palestine Solidarity Platform, a coalition of various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), began after afternoon prayers at Kocatepe Mosque and concluded with a march to Parliament. Protesters carried banners reading “You cannot remain silent while children are dying” and “Humanitarian corridor to Gaza, now!” They voiced slogans against Israel.
Speaking on behalf of protesters, Ismail Mansur Özdemir said the ongoing blockade of Gaza had a horrible humanitarian toll. He said that a humanitarian intervention was necessary, though many people would likely continue to suffer from debilitating diseases and injuries. “We are seeing significant efforts around the world for opening a humanitarian aid corridor. As NGOs, we support noble efforts to break the Israeli blockade through convoys and vessels,” he said, referring to recent trips to Gaza by aid flotillas that were cut short by Israel’s intervention. Özdemir said that Türkiye, with its historic and moral responsibility, always sided with the oppressed in terms of humanitarian aid. “Establishing a humanitarian aid corridor into Gaza is a necessity, but Parliament should turn it into action. As NGOs, we appeal to Parliament to lead the creation of a humanitarian aid corridor by land, sea and air. All political parties should have a common will to that extent,” he said.
On Saturday, a similar rally to show support for Palestinians was held in Istanbul. Pro-Palestinian marches are commonplace in Türkiye, which strongly supports the Palestinian cause and Hamas’ resistance.
A U.N. official on Sunday warned the Security Council that Israel’s plans to control Gaza City risked “another calamity” with far-reaching consequences, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted his goal was not to occupy the territory. The United Nations Security Council held a rare emergency weekend meeting after Israel said its military would “take control” of Gaza City in a plan approved by Netanyahu’s security cabinet that sparked a wave of global criticism. “If these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings and destruction,” U.N. Assistant Secretary General Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council.
The U.N.’s humanitarian office, OCHA, said 98 children had died from acute malnutrition since the start of the conflict in October 2023, with 37 of those deaths since July, according to Gaza’s authorities.
“This is no longer a looming hunger crisis – this is starvation, pure and simple,” said OCHA’s coordination director Ramesh Rajasingham.
Palestine’s U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour said Sunday, “over 2 million victims are enduring unbearable agony,” calling Israel’s plans for Gaza City “illegal and immoral,” and urged foreign journalists to be allowed into Gaza.
Netanyahu announced on Sunday a plan to allow more foreign journalists to report inside Gaza, but accompanied by the Israeli military.
Britain, a close ally of Israel which nonetheless pushed for an emergency meeting on the crisis, warned the Israeli plan risked prolonging the conflict.
“It will only deepen the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. This is not a path to resolution. It is a path to more bloodshed,” said British deputy ambassador to the U.N. James Kariuki.
World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed that sentiment, calling the Israeli plan “deeply worrying, given the already dire humanitarian and health situation across the Strip.”
But Netanyahu said Sunday his country was “talking in terms of a fairly short timetable because we want to bring the war to an end,” as he insisted Israel did not want to occupy Gaza.
Outside the meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York, a small but noisy protest calling for an end to the conflict was met by a large police presence.
Algeria’s Ambassador Amar Bendjama called for sanctions on Israel in response to its Gaza City plan.
“The hour has come to impose sanctions on the enemy of humanity,” he said.
“If it were another country, you would have been imposing sanctions a long time ago,” the Palestinian envoy Mansour said.
Türkiye’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is entering its annual congress season under a cloud of scandal as a looming court case over alleged vote buying in last year’s leadership race continues to dominate the party’s agenda.
The district congress delegate elections are set to begin on Aug. 13, followed by district congresses between Sept. 13 and Oct. 5, and provincial congresses from Oct. 11 to Nov. 5. Yet, instead of focusing on the upcoming elections, party insiders say all eyes are on the Sept. 15 hearing in the so-called shady congress case.
The high-stakes trial targets 12 suspects, including Istanbul’s ousted Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, on charges of rigging the CHP’s 38th Ordinary Congress in November 2023.
Prosecutors accuse current chairperson Özgür Özel of “buying” delegate support to oust longtime leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, with alleged bribes ranging from cash and houses to coveted municipal jobs. If the court annuls the congress, Özel’s leadership could be voided and a court-appointed trustee would take over Türkiye’s oldest political party until a new vote is held.
Sabah newspaper, citing party sources, wrote that the leadership’s decision to push ahead with the congress calendar before the hearing has sparked anger among the opposition wing, who view it as an attempt to cement control ahead of a possible annulment.
“In the past, congress season was exciting and competitive,” said a former CHP official. “Now, there’s no enthusiasm. Everyone is focused on the court case, and many believe the 2023 congress will be canceled.”
Some within the party fear the trial could even pave the way for Kılıçdaroğlu’s return, deepening divisions at a time when the CHP is already accused of corruption and backroom dealings. Should the court rule against the leadership, it would deal a major blow to the party’s credibility, particularly after last year’s local election gains.
Suppose the Sept. 15 hearing does not produce a damaging ruling. In that case, however, the provincial congresses in October are expected to see fierce power struggles, with tense confrontations between Özel’s camp and their emboldened opposition faction.
Until then, the CHP’s annual congress calendar remains overshadowed by a corruption trial that has cast doubt over the legitimacy of its current leadership and reignited old rivalries within Türkiye’s main opposition.
A Türkiye cleansed of terrorism will become a strategic threshold for greater economic, cultural and political unity across the Turkic world, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chair Kürşad Zorlu said Monday.
Speaking at the “Turkic World Relevant Institutions and Organizations Consultation Meeting” in Ankara, Zorlu, who also heads the party’s relations with Turkic states, said this vision aligns with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “Century of Türkiye” foreign policy goals.
“One of the most important pillars of the Century of Türkiye is building an institutional and multifaceted structure in relations with the Turkic world,” Zorlu said. “We are making a new beginning that will accelerate the Century of Turkic World.”
The meeting brought together 15 public institutions directly tied to the Turkic world, covering sectors from education and culture to diaspora affairs. Zorlu said the aim was to strengthen coordination, pool resources and unite around common projects.
Türkiye has been a driving force in the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), with Zorlu noting the bloc’s growing influence beyond its regional borders. The combined gross domestic product (GDP) of member states reached $2.1 trillion in 2024 and is expected to surpass $3 trillion by 2030, potentially making the OTS the eighth-largest economic bloc globally.
Trade among Turkic states has surged sixfold over the past two decades, while their share of global trade has risen by 70%, hitting 2.42% in 2024. Türkiye’s trade with its Turkic partners has grown fourteenfold since 2002, reaching $26 billion, with total intra-Turkic trade standing at $70.3 billion.
Investment ties are also strengthening. In 2002, there were virtually no companies with Turkic state capital in Türkiye; by March 2025, that number had risen to 5,405.
Zorlu said ongoing OTS initiatives, including efforts to enable identity and travel integration across member states, would further bind the region together.
“As Türkiye, we are determined to lead this process and move forward shoulder to shoulder with our sister states,” he said.
For Ankara, deepening ties with the Turkic world is not only an economic opportunity but also a geopolitical strategy to reinforce stability at home and project influence abroad, a role Zorlu argued will only grow once Türkiye fully eliminates terrorism.
Under the “terror-free Türkiye” initiative launched last year, the PKK terrorist group announced its dissolution in May. It began disarming last July, ending four decades of violence that claimed more than 40,000 lives in Türkiye, as well as in Iraq and Syria.
The head of the Friendship, Equality, Peace (DEB) Party, Çiğdem Asafoğlu, on Monday, has accused Athens of systematically dismantling Turkish minority education in Western Thrace, warning that the closure of three more schools is part of a wider assimilation strategy in violation of international law.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Asafoğlu stated that the Greek Education Ministry has pursued a policy for years of reducing class sizes or shutting down schools attended by the Turkish minority. This year, just before the start of the academic term, authorities closed schools in Kardere and Mehrikos in Rhodope, as well as in Hasanlar village in the Evros region.
She stressed that student numbers are deliberately reduced each year under the pretext of “low enrollment,” resulting in a decline from 210 minority primary schools two decades ago to just 83 today. “This is a demographic engineering project targeting cultural and identity assimilation,” she said, adding that such actions are “a crime under international law.”
Under the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, Turkish minority schools in Western Thrace are meant to have autonomous status. However, Asafoğlu said Athens applies the treaty selectively. “When it suits them, they invoke Lausanne against us. When we say ‘We are Turks’ and speak of the Turkish minority, they accuse us of violating Lausanne and being a national threat. But they breach the treaty whenever it benefits them,” she noted.
She argued that even if student numbers fall, minority schools cannot be shut down under Lausanne. Yet, once closed, schools never reopen despite official claims to the contrary. “In Musaköy and Hacı Mustafa villages, the student count later met the threshold, but the schools remained shut,” she said.
Asafoğlu accused Greece of depriving children of the right to mother-tongue education and encouraging them to attend Greek schools instead, offering transportation as an incentive. “That’s not a solution; it’s assimilation,” she said.
The DEB leader also rejected Greece’s claim that closures are temporary. “We know from experience this is permanent. It’s a calculated attempt to erode our cultural and linguistic heritage,” she said.
Beyond education, Asafoğlu warned that discriminatory policies extend to economics, agriculture and personal rights. “Greece is known as the cradle of democracy, yet when it comes to the Turkish minority in Western Thrace, democracy is absent. Laws are passed without consulting the minority’s legitimate representatives,” she said.
She vowed to continue challenging the closures through political and legal channels, including the European Parliament, where DEB holds representation. “We will not allow the Turkish people here to be assimilated or ignored. These rights are rooted in history and guaranteed under international agreements,” she said.
Asafoğlu also criticized the poor physical conditions of minority schools and the state’s refusal to improve facilities. “They want conditions to deteriorate so parents send children to Greek schools. This is part of a broader effort to reduce our numbers and change the region’s demographic makeup,” she concluded.
Some 150,000 Muslim Turks in Western Thrace, economically one of the poorest in Greece, have long complained about deteriorating conditions. Seeing the community as a “hostage” of its ties with Türkiye, the Greek government has committed numerous breaches of its treaty obligations and European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings over the years, including the closure of schools, the banning of Turkish-language education and refusing to legally allow the community to elect their religious leaders like muftis (Muslim clerics), which is also another treaty right.
The disarmament of the PKK terrorist group continues as the terror-free Türkiye initiative took a new turn with the establishment of a special parliamentary committee to discuss the process.
The group, titled the National Unity, Fraternity and Democracy Committee, held its second meeting on Friday and the closed session heard ministers of interior and national defense as well as head of intelligence organization. On Tuesday, it will hold its third meeting while media reports say more concrete steps from the PKK may come soon.
Those include the evacuation of Makhmur and Sinjar, two camps where PKK members and sympathizers reside in Iraq, setting up a legal framework for disarmed members of the group and the likely voluntary evacuation of the PKK’s senior figures to African or European countries.
The PKK started laying down weapons last month through a ceremony in northern Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah. Thirty members of the group, including senior leader Bese Hozat, burned their weapons in a cauldron in a well-publicized ceremony. Since then, little has been heard from the group except statements by some PKK leaders apparently expressing dissatisfaction with group’s decision to dissolve itself.
A report by Sabah newspaper published on Saturday says disarmament continues in secrecy, and Turkish officials closely monitor it and record the sites where arms were abandoned. Türkiye expects the process of disarmament to move forward faster than examples abroad, such as the disarmament of the ETA in Spain or the IRA in Ireland.
Soon, authorities expect the evacuation of Makhmur and Sinjar, both occupied by the PKK, sites that have hosted both Kurdish families and armed members of the terrorist group. The Makhmur camp is the oldest for PKK members and was set up in 1998 in the eponymous town. It primarily housed PKK sympathizers who left Türkiye in 1990s, as well as dangerous PKK members. Unconfirmed media reports say the PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, sent a message to residents of the camp and urged them to prepare for imminent evacuation. The report by Sabah says families hailing from Türkiye who lived in Makhmur under the control of the PKK would be allowed to return home.
Türkiye is considering reintegration measures for PKK members not involved in any crimes and who volunteered to abandon arms, according to the Sabah report, but more than three dozen members of the group of senior cadres and some 300 members in lower ranks will not be allowed to return to Türkiye. These include PKK terrorists known to authorities and involved in masterminding or participating in acts of terrorism. Türkiye will allow them to stay in Iraq or Syria for a while but a permanent stay after the PKK’s full disarmament is out of question, according to the reports. The Sabah report also says they would be “advised” to leave for Europe or some African countries with good ties with Türkiye.
An outstanding issue in the initiative is the state of the YPG, the U.S.-backed Syrian wing of the terrorist group. The YPG insisted it was not a part of the disarmament but also failed to comply with a deal it signed with Damascus for integration into the Syrian army.
It is estimated that the YPG has up to 5,000 armed members. The U.S., which long supported the YPG under the pretext of a joint fight against the terrorist group Daesh, recently shifted its rhetoric and started openly supporting the YPG’s integration. Reports say the YPG may not stall its deal with Damascus more if Washington cuts off support and evacuate its military outpost in several northeastern Syrian towns occupied by the YPG.
In Ankara, Parliament will deal with the legal aspects of the initiative. Likely building upon the new committee’s recommendations, Parliament is expected to draft bills for the integration of disarmed PKK members to the society and their rehabilitation.
New legal regulations are required for PKK members to return to Türkiye, which designates it as a terrorist group. Quoting unnamed Turkish authorities, the Sabah report said Iraq is home to about 2,200 PKK members, while it is estimated around 200 terrorists are in hiding in Türkiye. Currently, some 5,000 people are incarcerated in Turkish prisons on charges related to the PKK and about 100 among them are elderly or suffering from debilitating diseases. A new amendment may particularly lead to the release of this second group as elderly and terminally ill prisoners are occasionally granted clemency.
Speaking before the last meeting of the parliamentary committee on Friday, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, who also chairs the committee, said they needed closed sessions due to the sensitive nature of the matter. Despite widespread support for the initiative as evidenced in recent opinion polls, authorities are worried that there might be attempts to undermine it, especially by far-right parties that oppose the initiative and foreign powers that used the PKK as a proxy group to advance their own goals, as the government has repeatedly pointed out.
“The committee is a historic step. In order to seize this great opportunity and, with the terrorist group now set to dissolve itself, to establish an environment where weapons, strife, and conflict are no longer discussed and where peace, brotherhood, and well-being take their place, our committee has a historic duty. I would like to thank everyone for the attitude shown during the commitee’s first meeting. Each of our colleagues expressed their views openly and in a highly respectful manner. The fact that our first decisions were adopted unanimously with the joint votes of all parties and all deputies participating in the commission is important for the committee’s success. From now on, I believe the spirit of unity displayed here will be important both for the negotiations and for the implementation of the decisions taken,” Kurtulmuş said.
“To make the most of this historic opportunity, we must proceed very carefully and express our views clearly. After all, those present in this room represent, in terms of votes, 98% of Türkiye. We are obliged to conduct this process with the sensitivity to meet the opinions and expectations of the people. There will be sessions in which very open and heated debates take place, but all of these will be the result of our shared intention to strengthen Türkiye’s national unity and solidarity. The consensus that emerges will please large segments of the public,” he said.
Kurtulmuş highlighted that the committee would oversee the legislative and regulatory arrangements that would emerge in connection with the process and would refer them to Parliament’s General Assembly for an ultimate decision and legislation.
Istanbul’s Beyazıt Square was home to a major rally on Saturday evening against Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and to protest the starvation Palestinians are exposed to.
Thousands of protesters, brought together by the Support to Palestine platform, which comprised the country’s prominent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), marched toward Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque from the square, holding small lanterns and flashlights from their cellphones for the “Be A Light of Hope for Gaza” rally.
Participants sought to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis and express solidarity with the people of Gaza amid escalating violence and severe shortages of food and medical supplies. Organizers called on the international community to take urgent action to end the suffering.
The crowd chanted slogans, “Killer Israel, Get out of Palestine” and “Children of Gaza, Wait For Us.” Among the participants was Ali Erbaş, head of the government’s Presidency of Religious Affairs (DIB), who recited prayers at the end of the rally. Others included Bilal Erdoğan, son of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who also serves as chair of the board of trustees at a prominent NGO, Istanbul Governor Davut Gül, general secretary of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Eyyüp Kadir Inan, Türkiye’s most popular drone maker Baykar’s chairperson, Selçuk Bayraktar, and heads of several labor unions.
After speeches, a young Palestinian girl recited a poem dedicated to Palestinians by the late Turkish poet Mehmet Akif Inan.
Israel has faced mounting outrage for its genocide in Gaza, where it has killed more than 61,000 people since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave and led to deaths by hunger and starvation.
Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its war on the enclave.
Among the demonstrators was Canadian-born educator Jenny Molendyk Divleli, who said the situation has reached an ever more serious stage.
“Everybody’s aware that there’s genocide going on, but the situation now with the forced starvation of the Palestinian people is extra dire every day. You know, tens of people, even maybe hundreds, are dying, so we really need to make sure that we’re making noise and doing what we can,” she told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Raised in a conservative Christian family, Jenny converted to Islam in 2006 after extensive personal research.
Now living in Istanbul since 2012, she creates social media content – often with her five children – that explains topics like Islam and the life of the Prophet Muhammad in both English and Turkish, aimed especially at young audiences.
Divleli also noted what she sees as a global shift in attitudes toward Palestine.
“I do think that the general public opinion has changed globally. I think that more and more organizations are starting to speak up. We’re seeing news agencies change and people who have been in the media, who have been anti-Palestine, are now changing their opinions. I don’t think that it can be denied anymore, which makes me hopeful,” she said.
Mohammed Ben Elsheikh, a Tunisian protester who has lived in Istanbul for four years, told AA that the protests aim to amplify the voices of Gazans.
“First of all, I would like to send my greetings to our brothers in Gaza and Hamas. May God help them. We will soon be free,” he said.
He condemned the international community’s inaction.
“It is a shame that children are dying. All of Gaza is dying. A lot of things are happening – murder, starvation, imprisonment. The world is not moving. The presidents are not moving. We, as Muslim people, are moving. But this is not enough.”
-
Politics2 days agoTurkish FM Fidan to visit Egypt to discuss Israel’s Gaza plan
-
Politics3 days agoTürkiye urges int’l pressure to stop Israel’s Gaza plan
-
Politics3 days agoGreek Cypriot biker protest halts Lefkoşa border crossings
-
Daily Agenda2 days agoForeign Minister Fidan: Israel persistently sabotes cease -fire initiatives
-
Daily Agenda2 days ago2 in Istanbul, 4 points in front of the CHP in front of Türkiye
-
Daily Agenda2 days agoVice President Yılmaz: To create a chaos environment for their purpose
-
Politics3 days agoArmenia, Azerbaijan agree to groundbreaking peace agreement
-
Daily Agenda2 days agoLawyer Mehmet Yıldırım and CHP Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik Came Out