Public opinion researcher Akaltun asks once again: Why is Buğra Gökçe under arrest?

Speaking about the arrest of Istanbul Planning Agency (İPA) President Assoc. Prof. Dr. Buğra Gökçe as part of the investigation launched into the İBB, Erdal Akaltun stated, “What is Buğra Gökçe saying? If Buğra Gökçe is doing this, it could have been done without detaining him. It wasn't secret! Let's assume all other cases were secret, corruption allegations, etc... State operations are trying to find these, but Buğra Gökçe was already disclosing them to the public; if it was a crime, shouldn't he have been taken in that day? If he is misleading, it is quite simple: There is public information, there is data released by the İPA. You could have come and asked, ‘Where did you find this? This is not data-driven.’ We asked here. There is no evidence to be obscured, no precedent data, it has already been disclosed.”

Evaluating recent political developments, Akaltun said, “When the CHP changed the country's agenda in the last local elections, and people started talking about the economy, hope, and solutions, the AK Party, in order to change this agenda, started with Esenyurt, peaked with Ekrem İmamoğlu, and subsequently brought the debate of ‘Can a trustee be appointed even to the CHP?’ to the agenda. Therefore, today the AK Party is trying to consolidate its own political base. Even within itself, journalists and members of parliament are fighting with each other. There is a process of managing and perception management at play. It is not very possible to do this.”