To appear in court today: Video message from İmamoğlu before the IMM trial! 'I will not present a defense...'

CHP's presidential candidate and IMM President Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been detained at Silivri Prison since March 23, 2025, will appear before a judge today.

İmamoğlu shared a message on his YouTube channel ahead of the IMM trial hearing to be held at Silivri Prison.

In the video published by his Presidential Candidacy Office, İmamoğlu stated that the case has reached the hearing stage after one year. Emphasizing that he has been unjustly detained throughout the process, İmamoğlu said he would not present a defense in the courtroom and noted the following:

"We have reached the hearing stage after a year. We have been unjustly held captive for a year. We will be in the courtroom tomorrow, and I will not present a defense; I will be the one judging. Before the hearing, I wanted to explain why I entered politics and that my concern is the nation."

İmamoğlu's message is as follows:

"Sometimes people ask me: 'Why did you enter politics?' Actually, the answer is not a very long story. I grew up always working. Politics came later. I remember opening the shop with my father in the mornings when I was 5 or 6 years old. We would open the door with a basmala. We would enter with our right foot. First, we would clean, then we would wait patiently. Those morning disciplines shape a person's character. You don't realize it at the time, but you understand it years later. I spent my childhood working a bit. I tilled the soil, picked hazelnuts, harvested tobacco, and carried sacks to the market. I sold what my mother produced. In our house, women worked too. My mother was economical, she was strong. My maternal grandmother and paternal grandmother were the same. I saw at a young age that labor has no gender. I learned to keep accounts before I learned to read and write. I learned it at the counter. I learned to put a little extra when weighing a product. My uncle used to say: 'If you put in too little, you lose the customer. If you put in a little extra, you receive a prayer.' That sentence left a deep mark on my life.

The years we came to Istanbul were not easy. There was the Gulf War, there were economic difficulties. My father was trying to start a business in a new city. I was studying at university on one hand, and walking around construction sites on the other. I was traveling the city by changing 10–12 public transport vehicles a day. I was explaining projects, trying to sell houses. I was young, I didn't get tired. But the real issue wasn't fatigue. I understood later: The issue was believing. During that period, I learned this: It is not important to be a boss in a business, but to work together with the employees. I cannot forget the days I kept night watch at the gas station. I would clean the windows of the cars. They would think I was just an employee there. My father would not separate me from the other employees. What we call merit started for me there."

"CHILDREN WILL GROW UP WITH HOPE, NOT ANXIETY"

As for politics... I didn't wake up one morning and say 'Let me do politics.' I was living in Beylikdüzü. The city was growing but it had no soul. There was a lack of planning, no identity. I imagined a model: A place where people would feel a sense of belonging. A city where children are safe in the park, where people meet with culture. I entered politics in 2008. I asked for a primary election. There were times I lost, times I wasn't nominated, but I didn't hold a grudge. We won in 2014. Do you know how we won? By entering every street, touching every home, with a pace that started at 6 in the morning and ended at 2 at night. Because the pulse of politics beats on the street. I learned this very early. When I became mayor, I paid attention to this: People should feel they belong to this city. We built life valleys, opened cultural centers, established solidarity houses, founded a food bank. But what we really did was not concrete, it was building bonds.

Then Istanbul... I did the same thing there. I went out to the street, I listened. I cannot forget the moment a child said, 'Can you find a job for my mother?' A child of primary school age doesn't know the word 'anxiety' but experiences anxiety. That sentence is the reason I stay in politics. Everyone sees what we are going through today. A trustee was appointed to our family business, which has been growing for three generations. My 77-year-old father's pension was seized. This matter is not personal. My issue is this: If the law becomes arbitrary, who remains safe? What you call property rights is the reward for a person's labor. If the law weakens in a country, the economy also weakens and flees. I am saying this not as a politician, but as a business person. So, am I hopeless? No. Because there are still hardworking people in this country, there are conscientious people, there are responsible young people. I did not enter politics to get rich. I already had a job. I entered because I believed this country could be more just. Maybe we are going through a difficult period today, but I believe in this: This country will breathe again. Children will grow up with hope, not anxiety. My story is actually very simple. It is the story of a child who grew up working and is paying his debt to the place where he lives... And I will not stop until I pay that debt."