Breaking News: Call to Istanbul residents from CHP leader Özgür Özel!

A new espionage investigation has been launched by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against the imprisoned presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu. As part of the investigation, İmamoğlu and Necati Özkan will testify at the Çağlayan Courthouse today.

CHP deputies Umut Akdoğan (Ankara) and Ali Gökçek (Istanbul) issued a call to citizens, asking them to gather in front of the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan to support the imprisoned presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is set to give his statement as part of the "espionage" investigation.

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel addressed the crowd gathered in front of the courthouse.

Our Chairman Özgür Özel at the Çağlayan gathering to support our presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu https://t.co/nlRZmWueAz

— CHP ???? (@herkesicinCHP) October 26, 2025

Highlights from Özel's statements:

The highlights from Özel's speech are as follows:

"On October 2nd last year, they sent the 'White Toros' gang to the Çağlayan Courthouse, and we have had no peace since that day. When they detained Chairman Ekrem in the early hours of March 19th, we all saw the coup. They called him a thief, it didn't work; they called him corrupt, it didn't work; they said he supported terrorism, it didn't work. Now, as a last resort, they called him a spy. Shame on them.

They attempted a coup on March 19th. While they were blocking the roads, kudos to those who made history here. Those in this square made their party the number one party. Ekrem İmamoğlu has defeated Recep Tayyip Erdoğan four times in a row. If Ekrem İmamoğlu is marching toward the Presidency today, it is thanks to this Saraçhane spirit.

Shame on those who appointed a Yeni Şafak writer as a trustee to TELE1. Our deputies have been showing solidarity at TELE1 for two days. We will not leave Merdan Yanardağ and the employees of TELE1 alone. A free press cannot be silenced; we will stand by them to the end.

Accusing İmamoğlu of espionage is a confession. They said corruption, it backfired; they said terrorism, it backfired. Now they say espionage. This is a confession. The Chief Prosecutor is saying, 'I am desperate, I am desperate.'

Today, because the slanders they leveled against Chairman Ekrem have backfired—especially while Erdoğan was tried without arrest—they now have to bring Chairman Ekrem and our friends, for whom not even an indictment has been written or can be written, before a judge soon. Bahçeli and sensible politicians say an indictment is needed. Recently, a 500-page indictment turned into trash within hours. We are waiting for that indictment so that we can show friends and foes alike how the slanders leveled until today have collapsed and that what was done was a perception operation.

The Chief Prosecutor says, 'How can this be? We made people call him an octopus, we made them call Ekrem the head. You will write the indictment!' The court will look at it and will most likely conduct the trials without arrest. The instruction given to the gentleman, his team, and the 'White Toros' gang was that Ekrem should not see the light of day and should stay inside until the election.

The person at the head of this coup, the March 19th coup, said, 'Come on Akın, keep İmamoğlu inside until the next election.' He gave the go-ahead, but in the end, they hit a wall. The indictment isn't filling up. If they submit it, the judge will say 'trial without arrest.' They tried to invent a new crime. They went and claimed something called an 'espionage' crime. FETÖ used to do this too.

The crime they accused our friends of here is supposedly that all of your personal data was passed into the hands of foreign states... Go and look at the files in the Ankara 23rd and especially the 28th High Criminal Courts. Hakan Fidan had all the information at the MIT stolen! Hüseyin Gün confessed that he was a British agent. Every question to be asked to us must first be asked to Erdoğan and his ministers! The oppressors will lose, we will win!"

News Source: 12punto