Breaking News: Ekrem İmamoğlu reacts to the detention of lawyers! 'Either justice or misery... There is no other option left before us'

Detention warrants have been issued for lawyers as part of an investigation into the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB).

A detention warrant was issued for Yiğit Gökçehan Koçoğlu, the lawyer for Mehmet Pehlivan, who is the attorney for CHP's detained presidential candidate and İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.

In the morning hours, Serkan Günel, the lawyer for İBB Media A.Ş. Board Chairman Murat Ongun, as well as lawyer Kazım Yiğit Akalın, were detained.

İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is being held in Silivri, reacted to the detention of the defense lawyers involved in the İBB investigation.

İmamoğlu stated the following:

"My dear nation;

Either justice or misery... There is no other option left before us.

I have filed criminal complaints against those who have caused the greatest disgrace in the history of the Turkish judiciary, and I will continue to do so.

There is no way to describe the price that a handful of ambitious people have made our country pay, or the rights of the people they have violated. We are paying this price together with our retirees, workers, low-income citizens, the unemployed, our students, our children, and our youth.

I ask this handful of ambitious people who have brought total misery upon our nation;

What are you serving with these unlawful trials and operations, arrests, detention processes where many people, including myself, were kept waiting for days in filthy holding cells, and the appointment of trustees, etc.?

How do you justify to the supreme Turkish judiciary the fabrication of false witnesses and testimonies, the creation of informants and slanderers, the arrest of innocent people or threatening them with arrest, and the intimidation by saying 'you cannot get out of prison'?

Now you are also attempting to detain lawyers, intimidate them, and prevent people from performing their duties.

Enough is enough!

Who are you, and who and what are you serving? From whom did you learn these methods? Do you not feel ashamed of attacking people's honor and dignity?

I call out to my nation:

This handful of ambitious people is causing great harm to both the nation and the state. File complaints, do not remain silent, and raise your voices."

Aziz milletim;

Ya adalet, ya sefalet… Artık önümüzde başka seçenek yok.

Türk yargı tarihinin en büyük rezaletini yaşatanlar haklarında suç duyurusunda bulundum ve bulunmaya devam edeceğim.

Bir avuç muhterisin ülkemize ödettiği bedelin, yedikleri kul hakkının tarifi yok. Bu…

— Ekrem İmamoğlu (@ekrem_imamoglu) April 24, 2025