The İmamoğlu operation: Has Istanbul been saved from "betrayal"?

On March 18, the Çanakkale Victory and Martyrs' Remembrance Day, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu's diploma was cancelled... The next morning, his home was raided in a dawn operation and he was taken into custody... Yesterday, while the CHP was holding a primary for its presidential candidacy, he was arrested on charges of corruption. Since he was arrested for this, no arrest warrant was issued for the terrorism investigation... For now!..

Let me state from the outset; I am not defending İmamoğlu, whom I have never considered voting for, nor am I vouching for him. I am simply, as I have done until today, trying to uphold the law and justice regardless of the suspect's/defendant's identity or what they are accused of, and I am objecting to the "destination" to which Turkey is being dragged through such operations.

I am not opposing the investigation and trial of Ekrem İmamoğlu either. I am saying this: for the sake of an obvious political goal, blocking the path of someone who has been elected three times and has received the votes of millions of Istanbulites through these ways and methods is not the right path, and it will bring no good to anyone.

If he had been summoned instead of being taken into custody in a dawn operation, if he had been tried after the investigation was completed, and if he were to be arrested, only then arrested; would the economy have plummeted like this, would people have reached the point of rebellion, and would a de facto state of emergency have been declared? Has this heavy bill not been loaded onto the backs of 86 million, not just İmamoğlu and those who voted for him?

Can it be thought that those who even sat at the table with the PKK and DEM for the sake of fortifying the "internal front" did not calculate these results?

A LESSON IN "RULE OF LAW" WHILE İMAMOĞLU IS UNDER INTERROGATION

While İmamoğlu was being interrogated in Çağlayan, Erdoğan was at the iftar of the AKP Istanbul Organization.

Although he saw no harm in speaking about this ongoing investigation as the head of the executive branch, he repeated that Turkey is a "state of law," asked for the courts to be left alone, and explained that "no one is outside the scope of the law."

He said, "Including the diploma fraud where the rights of hundreds of thousands of young people were violated... A lot of filth is spilling out. Bales of money, dollars, and euros are gushing out from left and right. A terrible heist of hundreds of billions of liras is being mentioned."

He reacted to the actions organized by the CHP with the words, "We will not tolerate operations being carried out on Turkey, surgery being performed, or new seeds of discord being sown among the 85 million through social engineering."

He also considered Özgür Özel's criticisms of the pro-government media as "open threats."

THANK GOD WE HAVE NOT LOST OUR MEMORY

In these 23 years, we have experienced things that could not be imagined; but thank God, we have not yet lost our memory.

As in the folk song "Nesini söyleyim canım efendim" from the Sivas region by Şarkışlalı Serdari, "If I were to write a petition, it would not fit in a notebook"... Which one should we talk about!..

Let's start with İmamoğlu being accused of "participating in a terrorist crime to be elected Mayor."

The Oslo and Imralı negotiations, the receipt of a letter from the terrorist leader in Imralı during the 2019 municipal elections, the appearance of his brother Osman Öcalan on TRT, and even the current opening... What does this mean; was there no election calculation in any of these, or is there not?!

Another strange accusation from the mouth of a secret witness; a retired ambassador who is a consultant at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality allegedly polished İmamoğlu's image abroad. Where shall we place the lobbying activities carried out abroad for Erdoğan and the AKP? Especially Cüneyt Zapsu's words in Washington for Erdoğan during his consultancy: "Don't sweep him into the hole... Use him"?!

"WE GAVE THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL OF THESE"

"Turkey is a state of law. The rule of law prevails, not the law of the superior" and also "the courts need to be left alone," right?

Let's start with the hottest event, the İmamoğlu investigation.

What did Erdoğan say on the day AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik said, "We have no information about the file. What a politician should do is follow the judicial process"?

He announced that the information and documents regarding İmamoğlu were transferred to the judiciary by the CHP members themselves.

About 2 months before this detention, he had already stated that the biggest radishes were still in the bag.

Let's say a single word about İmamoğlu being accused of "corruption."

Wasn't it Erdoğan who confessed for Istanbul, "We did not know the value of this city, we betrayed this city, we are still betraying it, and I am responsible for this"? What happened; were those betrayals accounted for?

Is it İmamoğlu's "diploma fraud" and "the violation of the rights of hundreds of thousands of young people"? How many millions of young people's rights were violated and their futures stolen during their term in power through the theft of exam questions and the interview system that is still ongoing?

If we go back a little further;

When the Ankara Regional Court of Justice 20th Penal Chamber decided on the acquittal and release of former Lieutenant General Metin İyidil, one of the defendants in the July 15 coup case; who was it that said, "Of course, we gave the instructions for all of these... Thank God, our Ministry of Justice and our prosecutors took their steps at this point and caught them with the operation they carried out together with the Ministry of Interior as soon as possible"?

Or the one who took on the role of prosecutor for Ergenekon, and who explained that retired Lieutenant General Engin Alan, who was arrested in the Balyoz conspiracy, "paid the price because he did not stand up when he arrived at the Çanakkale commemoration ceremony and found the place he was going to"?!.. Or the one who released Pastor Brunson and Deniz Yücel upon the threats of Trump and Merkel, and who transferred our jurisdiction to try the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia?! The one who declared for some decisions of the Constitutional Court that "he would not comply with the decision and did not respect it"?!

I wonder, is there any need to remind what happened to the prosecutors and judges who gave decisions that the government did not like?

FIRED JOURNALISTS AND MEDIA BOSSES BROUGHT TO TEARS

Although Erdoğan accused Özgür Özel of "openly threatening media organizations," if we were to recount the operations carried out on the media in the last 20 years, it would not fit into volumes.

Didn't he reproach Hürriyet for years for headlines like "He can't even be a mukhtar" and "411 hands raised for chaos"? Isn't he still pointing to those headlines at every opportunity?

Didn't he call some headlines "rudeness" and "lack of level"?

Didn't he make Erdoğan Demirören, the owner of Milliyet Newspaper, which published the Imralı minutes, cry and demand the dismissal of reporter Namık Durukan and Editor-in-Chief Derya Sazak? Again, because of this, didn't he shout from the podium to Hasan Cemal, whom he once called "Hasan Abi," saying, "Damn your journalism"?

Leaving all that aside; have you ever heard Erdoğan say anything when his partner Devlet Bahçeli targeted journalists with newspaper advertisements or from the podium?

WHERE WILL WHAT TRANSFORM?

As for the code of what has been inflicted on this noble, beautiful nation until today and what is planned to be inflicted from now on;

The pro-government media had announced that during the Erdoğan-Trump meeting, Trump said, "We trust you in the region," "We will work with you in our regional policies."

The radish in the bag was brought out by Trump's Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. While Witkoff announced that the two leaders had a "magnificent" and "transformational" conversation, he emphasized that they expect Trump's Ankara Ambassador Nominee Tom Barrack to do an "extraordinary job.”

While our internal front is being further devastated and rendered unable to look at our enemies, what "magnificent, transformational" things will happen; let's tell that in another article.

Müyesser YILDIZ

March 24, 2025