3rd wave of operations against IMM! CHP figures react

A new operation was added this morning to the series that began with the detention of IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19. According to a statement from the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, detention warrants were issued for 22 people, including Taner Çetin, Head of the IMM Press, Broadcasting and Public Relations Department.

It was reported that detention, search, and seizure operations are ongoing in accordance with the decision.

STATEMENT FROM ALİ MAHİR BAŞARIR

CHP Group Deputy Chairman Ali Mahir Başarır listed his criticisms regarding the detention warrants during a program he attended on SZC TV.

"Get well soon to our country. If such justice, such a legal system is being operated in this country as of today in this century, then get well soon to 86 million people," said Başarır, adding the following:

"Their only goal is to prevent the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality from functioning, and that is why there is a system that sends all department heads, the entire team, our mayor, and his colleagues to Silivri. Why do these investigations and detentions always find the Republican People's Party mayors at 6 a.m.? Yet, there are incredible findings in the reports prepared by the Court of Accounts or the Ministry of Interior inspectors. Can there be such an investigation technique? You round people up into prison, and then you take their first statements. Then you say, 'If you change your statement, I will let you out.' The judiciary is acting like the mafia.

"A SHAMEFUL PICTURE"

This is not something that can happen. The presumption of innocence has been trampled upon. The rule of law has been trampled upon. The Constitution and the principles of criminal law have been trampled upon. It is not something that can happen. It is unclear what we will wake up to every day. The only goal is to keep the opposition at a certain point and the desire of this gentleman to govern the country as he wishes, in an arbitrary manner, and he is using the judiciary as a tool for this. A shameful picture. We will talk about these in Parliament today. Why? Because people's legal security is now trampled upon. While some prosecutors are conducting these unlawful investigations, some journalists are simultaneously carrying out perception operations in this country. These are not things that should happen."

İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyemizin bürokratlarına yönelik bu gözaltı operasyonu, hukukun değil, iktidarın yargı sopasıyla yürüttüğü bir sindirme ve gözdağı operasyonudur.
Heybesinde tek bir delil, elle tutulur hiçbir gerekçe olmayan iktidar, Cumhurbaşkanı adayımız Ekrem…

— Burhanettin Bulut (@eczburhan) May 20, 2025

BURHANETTİN BULUT: AN OPERATION OF INTIMIDATION AND THREAT

CHP Deputy Chairman Burhanettin Bulut reacted to the issuance of detention warrants for 22 people, saying, "This detention operation is not an operation of law, but an operation of intimidation and threat carried out by the government using the judiciary as a stick."

Sharing on his social media account, Bulut stated the following:

"This detention operation targeting the bureaucrats of our Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is not an operation of law, but an operation of intimidation and threat carried out by the government using the judiciary as a stick. The government, which has not a single piece of evidence or any tangible justification in its bag, continues its smear campaign targeting our presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu. Those who know they will lose at the ballot box are making the law a tool of politics and chasing perceptions. But no matter what they do, it is in vain... The nation sees the truth!"