Turkish authorities have opened an espionage investigation against the mayor of Istanbul and former presidential candidate of the CHP party, Ekrem İmamoğlu, currently in prison awaiting trial, the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office announced in the last hours. In the same operation, journalist Merdan Yanardağ has also been arrested, along with 14 other people, including İmamoğlu’s campaign manager, Necati Özkan: all of them are accused of collaborating with foreign espionage services linked to Israel.
According to Turkish media reports, the investigation launched by the Istanbul prosecutor’s office into digital material seized from Hüseyin Gün, an espionage suspect arrested last July, found secret military information, photographs of foreign passports and links to terrorist organisations. According to investigators, the files include evidence of contacts with foreign intelligence services.
According to the accusations, during the 2019 municipal elections, İmamoğlu allegedly coordinated his campaign in collaboration with the terrorist organisation FETÖ (which organised the failed 2016 coup) and foreign intelligence agencies, in an alleged attempt to manipulate the electoral process, which would constitute a crime of espionage. The investigation indicates that data of 11 million voters was leaked through an application linked to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, affecting millions of users. Six companies linked to the metropolitan municipality are also under investigation.
The prosecution has requested that İmamoğlu, suspended from office and sent to prison, be transferred to testify on these new charges. The encrypted and handwritten documents seized from Gün reportedly contained images of military weaponry, photographs of Israeli citizens associated with Israeli politics and the Israeli military, as well as evidence of communications with individuals linked to terrorist organisations such as FETÖ and PKK/KCK and multiple foreign consulate officials.
Large domestic and international transfers totalling 85 million Turkish Liras (1.7 million euros) were also allegedly detected, as well as exchanges of information on countries in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey with intelligence agents in a foreign country.
Secret services manipulated elections to make İmamoğlu winner, according to prosecutor
The prosecutor alleges that the purpose of this plot was to raise funds for İmamoğlu’s candidacy, and that Necati Özkan collaborated with Hüseyin Gün to alter the results of the 2019 municipal elections and get him elected as the new mayor. According to the investigation, Gün – arrested for espionage months ago – reportedly even held numerous direct meetings with İmamoğlu.
The opposition mayor, who successfully wrested the Istanbul administration from Erdoğan’s AKP party in 2019 after decades of AK party rule, also faces charges of corruption, falsifying his university degree and insulting a court expert, offences that could lead to prison sentences and political disqualification. İmamoğlu and his party, the CHP, say the charges are part of a ‘political campaign’ aimed at removing the popular opposition candidate, whose arrest sparked months ago multiple protests in Turkey, from political life.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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