Striking defense from Murat Ongun in the IMM case: $1 million allegation

The 59th day of the IMM Case, in which 414 people, including CHP's Presidential Candidate and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, are being tried, with 59 of them in detention, has begun.

In the hearing held by the Istanbul 40th High Criminal Court in the hall opposite the Marmara Closed Penal Execution Institution, relatives of the detained defendants were present as observers.

Court officials removed journalist Barış Pehlivan, who had come to Silivri to follow the trial, from the courtroom because he did not have a press card.

Detained Medya A.Ş. Chairman of the Board and advisor to Ekrem İmamoğlu, Murat Ongun, addressed the audience, saying, "Today will be a very beautiful day."

İMAMOĞLU TAKES THE FLOOR

Ekrem İmamoğlu took the floor at the hearing. Upon the presiding judge's desire to hold hearings on Fridays as well, İmamoğlu stated that he had four other hearings.

Thereupon, the presiding judge said that he would make adjustments regarding the other hearings and that there would be no hearings on Fridays. Furthermore, the presiding judge stated that, upon İmamoğlu's request, his defense would be taken after Murat Ongun, Tuncay Yılmaz, İnan Güney, and Fatih Keleş.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM MURAT ONGUN'S DEFENSE

Detained Medya A.Ş. Chairman of the Board and advisor to Ekrem İmamoğlu, Murat Ongun, began his defense.

Criticizing the indictment, Ongun said, "A covert caste system has come to our country, but we are not yet aware of it. Politics is being done loudly in the indictment."

Ongun stated that the name of the case is not the IMM Case and that it should be referred to as the İmamoğlu Case.

"This case is political from A to Z," Ongun said, adding, "You know this, and the whole world knows it. I am also aware that I am giving a statement here to complete a procedure."

Ongun said the following: "This indictment is like the work of Dr. Frankenstein. It is as aggressive and ruthless as he is. Moreover, the person who created it must have abandoned it because he was disgusted by his own work. He went to Ankara. While going to Ankara, he left this creature in your arms."

Stating that his wife was also detained in the 2nd wave IMM operation carried out on the morning of Saturday, April 26, 2025, Ongun said, "On April 27, I had a lawyer visit. The name of this lawyer, who came to visit me for the first and last time, was Beliz Özkan. You can see from the prison records that she has only come to me on April 27 in 15 months. She said; 'Our mutual friend says that if he gives 1 million dollars, I will ensure your wife is not arrested.' The lawyer was very outspoken, she even gave the name of the person who would handle the job, but I cannot voice it. I was shocked when 1 million dollars was demanded from me in the lawyer's booth in prison," he said.

Mentioning the connection between Ekrem İmamoğlu's diploma cancellation and the IMM operation, Ongun said, "If İmamoğlu had been arrested while he had his university diploma, the official presidential candidate of the CHP would have been arrested. This would have been considered a coup against the democratic system. The principle of succession would have been violated, and the elections would have been interfered with. Those who carried out the unjust and unlawful operation waited for the diploma cancellation to eliminate such a risk," he said.

Highlights from Murat Ongun's defense are as follows:

"Mr. President, even if you say it easily; it is not easy to object in our country. Behind me sits the mayor of Europe's largest city, the President of the Union of Municipalities of Turkey, and the presidential candidate of Turkey's 1st party. He, too, objected to someone. The result; is well known. Objection is not popular in this geography. It is not very approved of. Instead, obedience is preferred. There is even a saying: 'obey, be comfortable.' A comfortable area, that is. It makes one comfortable. As for hopeless troublemakers like us, what of it! We constantly object. To what? To injustice. To what? To unfairness. To what? To nepotism, dual law, partisanship, real corruption! The end of the objection is that we are in your presence, Mr. President!"

THE NAME OF MY DEFENSE IS 'DEFENSE OF DOUBT'

Various names have been given to this fictional work, whose official name is an indictment. It was called a 'slander-ment'. A correct definition. Ekrem President; called it a 'promotion-ment'. He is right. Moreover, it is evidenced. When the time comes, I will make my own definition. Since they cooked this soup, they will drink it even if it is bad.

Honorable Board; The name of my defense is: Defense of doubt! Doubt; is not just the professional anchor of prosecutors. It is primarily the professional anchor of journalists. That is, of my own profession. I will not tell my CV here. Because after Ekrem President, I am the second person whose entire life is best known, most transparent, always on the media radar, and whose every action is illuminated and examined.

"JOURNALISTS ARE BEING TRIED"

Journalist brothers I know from Ankara are being tried. Supposedly, they made misleading broadcasts to the public under my instructions! Moreover, by taking money from me! The writers of the indictment do not know our profession, of course. It is clear that they think the fish in the pool media are journalists. If they knew; they would learn that I could not give instructions to my professional elders Soner Yalçın, Ruşen Çakır, Şaban Sevinç, and Yavuz Oğhan. However, they would also know that they have the right to pull my ear, scold me, and even give me instructions.

"THE NAME OF THIS CASE IS THE İMAMOĞLU CASE"

The name of this case is not the IMM case, it is the İmamoğlu case. This case is a political case from A to Z. That is why I am someone who is aware that I am giving a statement here to complete a procedure. Just as I know why I was arrested. Even if some defendants like me and their lawyers pull not one, but ten rabbits out of their hats in this case, it is in vain. For now.

For those who think that Ekrem İmamoğlu will be destroyed by the İmamoğlu case, I say it in quotation marks, the owner of the word is known; this case is nothing but 'Fool's Fire'. Fool's Fire; means deceptive hope. Since the term 'fool' is used on our side, because a negative judgment dynamic works, I had to explain it.

In my opinion, you will declare a lot of punishment for our few actions. And I hope that; we will not see a reasoned decision that stretches for pages with the delusion of quantity like the authors of the indictment. Because, there is no public that your punishment decision will convince. You will make the decision in the name of the nation, but the nation will oppose the decision. Because it has made its decision. They will not let us out of the cell despite the nation!

CRITICISM OF THE INDICTMENT

The indictment proves that there is dual law in Turkey. The indictment proves that elite and special people in our country are not equal before the law with us mortals. The indictment says loudly "I am doing politics".

When I wrote this last paragraph, the Honorable Chief Prosecutor, who was the leader of the writing team, had not yet been appointed as Minister. When he was appointed, I thought about whether I should abandon the discourse that "this case is political". Because I did not have stronger evidence to show that the İmamoğlu Case is a political case at its core. Anyway, in his ministerial performance, Mr. Gürlek revealed what a sincere AK Party member he is. Now what should I do? What should I think? Should I believe the claim that the Honorable Minister was an independent, distant from politics, unbiased jurist until February? Should I think that he internalized the AK Party so much in one day? It does not quite fit the ordinary flow of life.

"THE INDICTMENT IS LIKE THE WORK OF FRANKENSTEIN"

There is a story that the whole world has known for nearly 200 years. In this story, someone who has become a prisoner of his own arrogance has become daring enough to compare himself with the Creator. One day, he decides to do something that belongs only to God. He decides to create a life form. Although he is a very successful person in his work, because he has crossed the boundaries of ethics and morality too much, the living being he wants to create emerges as a creature, a freak. This freak is excluded and stoned by society. This exclusion drives the creature to ruthlessness and aggression. The person who is disgusted by the freak he created abandons it.

The story I am telling is the horror story called Dr. Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley. Yes, Dr. Frankenstein, on the path he set out on by forgetting the essence of ethics and morality, created a freak with his arrogance. He caused this freak to become aggressive, and the doctor fled from the freak he created by abandoning it. Mr. President; this indictment is like the work of Dr. Frankenstein. It is as aggressive and ruthless as he is. Moreover, the person who created it must have abandoned it because he was disgusted by his own work. He went to Ankara. While going to Ankara, he left this creature in your arms.

"THE CONNECTION BETWEEN DIPLOMA CANCELLATION AND THE OPERATION"

It has a history, but first, it is necessary to determine the meaning of the 5 days between March 18 and March 23. Because the whole secret is hidden in these 5 days.

March 18, 2025, 18:00 – The Board of Directors of the Istanbul University Rectorate, although it was not within its duty and authority, cancelled Ekrem İmamoğlu's university diploma. We slept that night and 12 hours later, on the morning of March 19 at 06:00, the İmamoğlu Operation was carried out.

Before the operation, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office persistently demanded the diploma cancellation from the university with 2 separate threatening letters. There was no presidential election in the near future. For some reason, as stated in the prosecutor's letter, the diploma was only needed then. In this case, why did the chief prosecutor's office persistently demand diploma cancellation before the police operation? Yes, there was a primary election on March 23, but this was an internal issue of the CHP. Not the YSK (Supreme Election Council).

So why was the diploma cancellation waited for? After all, if Ekrem President was going to be arrested, his diploma could have been cancelled while he was inside, 2 months, 3 months, or 5 months later. However, the cancellation was persistently waited for, and the operation was carried out on the morning of the decision. The secret of everything is here. This cancellation was not done to guarantee the cancellation of the presidential candidacy as interpreted. The connection between the diploma cancellation and the operation is hidden in the concept of constitutional crime. If İmamoğlu had been arrested while he had his university diploma, the official presidential candidate of the CHP would have been arrested. This would have been considered a coup against the democratic system. The principle of succession would have been violated, and the elections would have been interfered with.

Those who carried out the unjust and unlawful operation waited for the diploma cancellation to eliminate such a risk. Tomorrow, when things change and this case is questioned, your defense arguments would have been: "We did not stage a coup against the elections, that is, the democratic system. Before the operation was carried out, Ekrem İmamoğlu's university diploma had been cancelled. This cancellation was not done by the prosecutor's office, but by the university. We carried out an operation against someone who is a high school graduate, that is, someone who cannot be a presidential candidate. In other words, this is an ordinary corruption operation against a mayor." That is what they would have said as a defense argument.

The poor rector is not aware of the trap he has fallen into. The blame was going to fall on him. And yet, this cunning plan's foresight failed.

On March 23, 2025, while we were aiming to bring 500 thousand CHP members to the ballot box, 15.5 million people already elected İmamoğlu. The cunning plan collapsed that day! That argument became history. This clear truth I have told you shows us only one thing: "Fear"

The diploma was cancelled with this fear and anxiety. The unjust one is afraid! Let me say one more thing. That absolute nullity decision, even that recklessness, stems from here.

"5 CONFESSOR DEFENDANTS HAVE THE SAME LAWYER"

After 1 month of media manipulation, starting from the end of April and peaking in May and June, we started to read stereotypical confessor statements. Those who made similar sentences one after another started to be released one after another. Each one who was released led to the birth of yet another lying witness behind. Confessors, or rather slanderers, whose names I heard for the first time in my life, were telling about aspects of myself that even I did not know, and I was learning about these traits of mine by reading them in the newspapers.

My name was circulating in various descriptions in mouths I did not know. This craze reached such a point that the lawyer of the suspect who made up a lie story and was released suddenly became a popular lawyer and gained new clients. Otherwise, we cannot describe the fact that 5 confessor defendants in this file later had the same lawyer as a coincidence.

"MY DAUGHTER'S EARRINGS WERE INCLUDED IN THE INVESTIGATION"

I have been detained for 1 year. 1 year does not sound like a very long period of time in a human life at first. However, the issue is not just being locked in a cell. For 1 year, our media lynching has also continued with news whose source is known. In our story, there is also being taken to the hospital in the middle of the night from the prison you entered for the first time in your life and are trying to adapt to, and being transferred to another prison you do not know with the first light of the morning. In our story, there are also moves against our family, our home raided 3 times, and our relatives who were arrested or taken under judicial control.

It is not enough for them to raid your house. The earrings in your daughter's ear and the pocket money at your son's bedside are also included in the investigation. Then, when these are written in the media, the Disinformation Presidency of that period denies this news. They state that my son's pocket money came out of the safe. Intelligence geniuses. Did we put the boy's pocket money in the safe and write "Koray's Pocket Money" on it? How did you know? At least use a little intelligence. But God is great. The head of that unit, who underestimated and denied what was done to my children, was involved in all kinds of disgrace and was dismissed. Of course, he was not arrested. He even found a new job. We last saw this person, who tried to create a perception through children, trying to remove his low chair at the handover ceremony of our Minister Akın. He couldn't remove it either. When he couldn't manage to remove it, they removed the person himself. He is working from behind the scenes now. He thinks he is secret.

"I WAS SHOCKED WHEN 1 MILLION DOLLARS WAS DEMANDED"

Mr. President; I would also like to share a piece of information in the presence of the court. My wife was also detained in the 2nd Wave IMM operation carried out on the morning of Saturday, April 26, 2025. I was experiencing great shock and sadness.

The next day, that is, on Sunday, April 27, 2025, at 14:15, I had a lawyer visit. The name of this lawyer, who came to visit me for the first and last time, was Beliz Özkan. You can see from the prison records that she has only come to me on April 27 in 15 months. My lawyer conveys it. As soon as she entered the meeting booth, she said to me, "Our mutual fat friend, both yours and mine, sent me." Cüneyt is a bit overweight. I asked her if she meant Cüneyt Yakut, saying that there was no situation to speak in code, and she said, "yes."

Then, she started to convey to me what Cüneyt Yakut had told her. She said; "You know, he told you, he has close acquaintances in the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. He himself had been released in a similar way. Our mutual friend says that if he gives $1,000,000.00, I will ensure your wife is not arrested." The lawyer was very outspoken, she even gave the name of the person who would handle the job, but I cannot voice it. I was shocked when 1 million dollars was demanded from me in the lawyer's booth in prison. The lawyer finished her sentence, but I was frozen. When no response came from me, Lawyer Beliz thought I was bargaining, I guess, and said: "He said even if he gives $600,000.00-$700,000.00, we can handle it, I have $300,000.00-$400,000.00." I ended the meeting by saying to the lawyer, "My wife is innocent, and I don't have such money." I filed a complaint with the Istanbul Bar Association against lawyer Beliz Özkan on January 7, 2026, with petition number 2975.

"IT HAS NOT BEEN SEEN IN 12 THOUSAND 500 YEARS OF HUMAN HISTORY"

The prosecutor's office accuses us of being both an economic and, in a way I cannot understand, a political criminal organization. According to the claim, if we analyze the structure of the so-called organization; we have been described as an eco-political criminal organization.

According to the indictment, the primary goal of the so-called organization's cadres, that is, us, is personal enrichment. The second goal is to seize the political party we are members of, that is, the CHP. The third goal is shown as making our so-called organization leader the presidential candidate of our party. In other words, according to the indictment, we are actually people with an interesting mindset who aim to come to power through elections to commit theft. We have chosen the most arduous and multi-equation methodology possible to commit corruption. The indictment has actually clarified the main goal of the organization on the next page. A few pages later, the 4th and, in my opinion, the main goal was explained. The beans have spilled from the mouth!

The indictment also says, "It is understood that the financial gain obtained from the profit-oriented criminal organization, which is referred to as the 'system' that the suspect laid the foundations of and both established and managed during his time as Beylikdüzü Mayor, is aimed to be reached much more with the possible Presidency office, that is, the wheel of bribery, irregularity, and corruption is aimed to be spread across the country beyond the municipalities he managed before."

Yes, that is what our prosecutors say.

It claims that the leader of this organization, which was established in Beylikdüzü in 2015, aimed to carry corruption from the district borders to the entire territory of Turkey, aiming to become president in the future while he was a district mayor. It says exactly this. Honorable board; The remains discovered in Göbeklitepe are described as the first findings regarding human civilization. Historically, it dates back at least 12 thousand 500 years. I would like to point out that in 12 thousand 500 years of human history, no Homo Sapiens has been seen who set out with the aim of becoming the head of a state to commit theft. At no stage of history has there been a network like ours that set the goal of seizing the state to commit theft. There have been those who set out to seize the state with race-based ideals, religious goals, revolutionary purposes, and ideological justifications. Also, there have been those who staged coups and started uprisings for this purpose. Regime changes have occurred. All of these have happened in human history. However, for 12 thousand 500 years, someone who tries to enter politics and seize the country's administration to commit theft has not yet been encountered. The indictment has made Ekrem İmamoğlu do something that has not existed for 12 thousand 500 years. Look, if this were true, what someone who set out with such a mindset could have would not be an organization consisting of many sane people, but only a funnel that he would put on his head.

"BUYING A PROVINCIAL BUILDING DOES NOT PROVIDE BENEFIT TO DELEGATES"

Again, according to the prosecution, why did Ekrem İmamoğlu get involved in the purchase of the provincial building? With the aim of seizing the party. Here is the other contradiction that cannot be explained by logic. If, as alleged, the provincial building was purchased with bribe money and income obtained as a result of pressure on businessmen, this purchase contradicts the first goal of the organization, which is personal enrichment. After all, the building will be the corporate property of the CHP. It is not İmamoğlu's personal property. This situation contradicted personal enrichment.

This transaction is not a source of income for the so-called organization, but on the contrary, it becomes an expense item. Well, is this purchase suitable for the 2nd goal, that is, the goal of seizing the party? Of course not. It also contradicts that goal. Party delegates are across 81 provinces. Buying a provincial building in Istanbul does not provide any benefit to other provincial delegates. Let's think very fantastically and assume that all Istanbul delegates switched to Ekrem İmamoğlu's side just because the building was bought. This situation also contradicts the lawsuits filed against the CHP İstanbul provincial congress and the CHP 38th Ordinary Congress, which are seen in other courts. In those lawsuits, it is alleged that the voting tendencies of the delegates were changed by being persuaded with financial benefits and promises of jobs for their relatives, not by buying a building. Are the delegates persuaded by money, by jobs for their relatives, or by buying a provincial building, minds are confused. The allegations are intertwined. As such, the Ankara 36th Regional Court of Justice was able to make an absolute nullity decision.

If we return to our focus, Ekrem İmamoğlu, by stepping in for the purchase of the provincial building, showed an attitude against personal enrichment, which is the first motto of his so-called organization. Also, as it is said, while there was an opportunity to give money to the delegate and seize the party faster as alleged, according to the allegation, he spent much more money on a building that does not belong to him. It was spent contrary to the organization's income goal. In other words, either Ekrem President does not know this business or the indictments are contradictory. The answer is very clear: The İmamoğlu indictment and the indictments of the lawsuits filed against the CHP are openly in contradiction. The question of which indictment's which allegation is true is in an ambiguity that has no answer.

"WINNING AN ELECTION IS CONSIDERED A CRIME"

The indictment says that unless there is an interruption in the intent to commit a crime, the execution of the crime continues. Similarly, it states that the crime has been continuing uninterruptedly since 2015. In that case, what the prosecution considers a crime here is winning an election. Because the actions subject to the allegation can only be performed with the powers to be acquired when an election is won. In this case, all the voters of Istanbul have also helped the so-called crimes to be committed uninterruptedly 3 times. In other words, 10 million Istanbul voters helped the so-called organization. This is a text that puts the nation in the status of a suspect. There is no such sentence.

It is unacceptable. You make millions of Istanbulites defendants. Furthermore, it follows that the prosecution does not respect the free will of the nation, the right to vote and be elected. If the leader of the investigation has been chosen as the Minister of Justice today, it shows that the AK Party also looks at the most fundamental democratic right of citizens, the right to vote, in parallel with the prosecution. This is a critical determination. It should be taken into account by the AKP.