10th hearing in the IMM case: Mehmet Murat Çalık and Resul Emrah Şahan face the judge

The 10th hearing of the IMM case, which involves 402 defendants in total, including Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor and CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is being tried while in custody, continues today.

As reported by Cumhuriyet, the defense attorney's questioning of the detained Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan, who presented his defense yesterday, is expected to continue, followed by the defense of the detained Beylikdüzü Mayor Mehmet Murat Çalık. Çalık's mother, Gülseren Çalık, is also watching the hearing from the courtroom.

15:00 | "THIS IS PUNISHING MY FAMILY AND MY RIGHT TO DEFENSE"

Mehmet Murat Çalık, who is alleged to be one of the 10 "organization members" "directly reporting to İmamoğlu" in the IMM indictment, where a total of 92 people are listed as "members of an organization," spoke about the acquaintanceship between the members:

"Before we came before the court here, we were socializing downstairs. I started to get to know the friends who are alleged to be members of the organization downstairs for the first time on March 9."

In the continuation of his defense, Çalık stated, "During the Topbaş era, we were negotiating with Mr. Hakan, the European Side Police Chief. He is currently detained here like us. A mayor's strongest defense is the public legacy they leave to the city. My only criteria while producing services have been compliance with the law and public interest. I am coming here from 600 km away, Mr. President. This is punishing me, my family, and my right to defense."

Çalık continues by responding one by one to the 7 actions (1, 2, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12) he is accused of in the indictment.

14:40 | "EVERY STEP WE TAKE INVOLVES URBAN PLANNING AND PUBLIC INTEREST"

Beylikdüzü Mayor Mehmet Murat Çalık explained his educational life, his journey from Trabzon to Istanbul, and his tenure at the Beylikdüzü Municipality in the first part of his defense. Çalık said:

"After graduating from ITU, we opened our planning office in Trabzon in 1997. After operating in Trabzon for one year, we moved our office to Istanbul to handle a comprehensive project for a municipality. My dear mother was the one most saddened by this move."

"If I were to give myself the title of 'the professional who made the plans for Beylikdüzü,' believe me, I would not be exaggerating because I dedicated 28 of my 29-year professional life to Beylikdüzü. Mr. President, if you asked an urban planner, 'What is your dream?'—and Mayor Resul Emrah, who defended before me, is also our colleague and friend—believe me, they would desire to manage a city. Of course, I am not entirely sure if they would say the same thing after these courts.

I am here today not only as a person on trial, but as a mayor who has served Beylikdüzü for nearly 30 years, 6 of which as mayor, and my conscience is very clear. Every step we have taken since 2014 has been based on urban planning principles and public interest.

The first thing I said when we started the job was, 'Do not delay the workers' salaries, do not delay the nutrition hour, and be sensitive about environmental cleaning issues.' My biggest project is the nutrition hour project. It may not mean much to some, but we have been sending food packages for 5 years. We sent 800 thousand packages. I did not spend a single penny of the Beylikdüzü Municipality for the nuts in the packages. I want you to look at this with that sensitivity as well. Are we gaining benefits from what we do, or are our actions turning into benefits for the public?"

14:00 | MURAT ÇALIK'S DEFENSE HAS BEGUN

After the break given to the hearing, the session began with Mehmet Murat Çalık's defense. Çalık stated the following in his defense:

"Honorable court, I greet the entire delegation present here with respect. Our lawyers are here. I congratulate everyone on their past holiday. I hope we will spend our future holidays freely and all together. I would like to start my defense with this wish.

Mr. President, esteemed members of the court; as you are aware, in the indictment, my activities related to the period before I became the Mayor of Beylikdüzü were evaluated within the scope of the Turkish Penal Code, and it was claimed that I committed more than one crime. In general terms, it is alleged that I am a member of a criminal organization of which Ekrem İmamoğlu is claimed to be the founder and leader, and that, unlike other members, I acted directly under his command.

While I was accused of the crime of extortion during the investigation phase, this was abandoned in the indictment; only seven separate cases related to the crime of bribery were attributed to me. Today, I will respond to these allegations in detail.

However, I would like to start by stating that it is extremely serious to portray municipalities, which are legitimate public institutions established by law and open to audit, as criminal organizations. Of course, the matter will be evaluated with its legal aspects. However, my conclusion is clear: There is no criminal organization.

In the four-thousand-page indictment, Mr. President, there is not a single phone record related to me. There is no technical surveillance, no secret witness testimony. The fact that there is not even a mention of a concrete benefit I allegedly obtained shows that the organized crime allegation is baseless."

SECOND PART OF ŞANLIOĞLU'S DEFENSE

Resul Emrah Şahan's lawyer, Şanlıoğlu, stated in his defense regarding the 13th action and the 38th–45th actions in the IMM indictment that the extortion and bribery accusations against Şahan were based not on concrete evidence but on contradictory witness statements. Şanlıoğlu said, "It is legally impossible to accuse someone of a crime in matters that do not fall within the client's scope of duty."

Arguing that the processes in the DAP, Profilo AVM, and Torun Center files involved in the actions proceeded in accordance with the legislation, Şanlıoğlu emphasized that Şahan was not authorized in many of the alleged transactions and said, "The municipality responded to all correspondence within one month. Despite this, these correspondences are presented as an effort to 'obstruct work'."

Touching upon the accusations regarding donations made to the municipality, Şanlıoğlu drew attention to the official and unconditional donations made to the municipality and said, "These statements were likely made out of the concern that 'the donations we made to the municipality will cause us trouble' or under the direction of another defendant's lawyer. An unconditional donation that enters official records cannot be characterized as a bribe."

Stating that the accusations in the 43rd, 44th, and 45th actions, which are based on zoning change allegations, are based on the statement of a single person and are established through transactions that are not legally possible, Şanlıoğlu said, "With the statement of a single person, unauthorized and even legally prohibited transactions are being made the subject of an accusation." At the end of his defense, Şanlıoğlu said, "When you look at the entire file, the situation is this: There is a statement but no corroborating evidence; there are two allegations but no legal justification; there are three fabrications but no material truth. In other words, we are facing an indictment that can be summarized as 'three exist, three do not'."

12:30 | ONE-HOUR BREAK GIVEN

A one-hour break was given to the IMM case. The court president decided to take a break after Resul Emrah Şahan's lawyer, Doğa Şanlıoğlu, completed his 2-hour defense.

After the break, Beylikdüzü Mayor Mehmet Murat Çalık is expected to present his defense.

11:20 | 9 ACCUSATIONS AGAINST ŞAHAN DISCUSSED IN DETAIL

Before moving on to the defense of Şahan's lawyer, Doğa Şanlıoğlu, one of İmamoğlu's lawyers, Fikret İlkiz, took the floor and asked Şahan questions regarding the detention process.

Upon İlkiz's question, Şahan said that he appeared before the criminal judgeship of peace alone within the scope of the "urban reconciliation" investigation and that the decision was notified to him in this way. İlkiz, on the other hand, stated that the detention decision, which he detailed down to the time and file number, covered four people, and that Ekrem İmamoğlu, Mahir Polat, and Mehmet Ali Çalışkan were also included in the same document.

İlkiz stated that Şahan appeared before the judge alone, but that it was recorded in the subsequently prepared decision text as if he were being tried together with the other names.

Then, Doğa Şanlıoğlu took the floor and began his defense.

"Although there is an allegation of bribery, the duties and professions of the defendants have not been investigated. People who are not public officials cannot be the perpetrators of the crime of extortion, but this was done in the indictment. Furthermore, everyone is a perpetrator in the indictment, but there is no 'instigator'. However, the expression 'octopus' has been used four times. The problem is about intent."

"No questions were asked to any suspect or witness regarding my client Şahan. There is not even an initial suspicion. The need to investigate my client for these crimes in order to continue his detention came to the agenda with the release of the Esenyurt Mayor, who was arrested due to the 'urban reconciliation' allegation, on July 14, 2025. I am underlining this date; because when the process of associating with terrorism lacked a legal basis, 'evidence' began to be sought to substantiate the accusations of membership, bribery, and extortion in order to continue the client's detention."

"Even though the investigation authority knows that there is no organization, why did they organize such a fabrication? It is not possible to reach a fair verdict by gathering so many dissimilar allegations and defendants under one roof."

Şanlıoğlu then began to present his defense regarding the 9 separate actions directed at Şahan one by one.

10:30 | İMAMOĞLU AND GÖKCE HUGGED EACH OTHER

The 10th hearing of the IMM case began in the morning hours.

Before the hearing, voices of "Happy Birthday" rose in the courtroom because it was the birthday of the detained Istanbul Planning Agency (IPA) President Buğra Gökce. Ekrem İmamoğlu also congratulated Gökce by hugging him.

At the beginning of the hearing, the Court President asked Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan whether he wanted to provide an additional defense regarding the 39th action attributed to him. Şahan stated that he did not feel the need to provide an additional defense.

Touching upon the accusations regarding the Profilo AVM land located in Mecidiyeköy within the scope of the action in question, Şahan argued that the narrative in the indictment did not coincide with the facts. Stating in his statement yesterday that there was no finding of a concrete money transfer in the file, Şahan expressed that the main issue was the public land worth approximately 520 million TL, and said that they were determined to protect this area in accordance with the plan decisions.