What will the CHP do after the 5th wave of operations targeting the IMM? The roadmap has been determined

A 5th wave of operations was conducted against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) and several CHP-run municipalities as part of a "corruption" investigation led by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. Detention warrants were issued for 47 people, including incumbent mayors and CHP officials, as part of the investigation.

Among those with detention warrants are Büyükçekmece Mayor Hasan Akgün, Gaziosmanpaşa Mayor Hakan Bahçetepe, Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara, Adana Ceyhan Mayor Kadir Aydar, Adana Seyhan Mayor Oya Tekin, IMM Deputy Secretary General Erdal Celal Aksoy, CHP Party Assembly Member Baki Aydöner, and former MP Aykut Erdoğdu.

CHP'S "CRISIS MANAGEMENT" STEP

Following the operation, the CHP Istanbul Provincial Organization decided to hold an emergency meeting. CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik announced that they would hold a meeting at the provincial headquarters with MPs, district chairs, mayors, and members of the party assembly and high disciplinary board to manage the process.

In a statement on a live broadcast on Halk TV, Çelik said, "Our crisis management plan is in effect. We will assign our colleagues to the municipalities targeted by the operation. Our lawyers will closely follow the process at the Police Headquarters on Vatan Street." He noted that no organizational call for protests had been made.

"SLANDER AND ESCAPE" ORDER

Çelik reacted sharply to the operations. "We started the day with another dawn raid. We are experiencing an operational process that they have been trying to accustom society to for over 200 days," said Çelik, adding, "When they cannot find a crime, they conduct new operations. A system has been established by operating the law in reverse."

Arguing that the government's main goal is to sideline the CHP, Çelik stated:

"The name of this order is the 'slander and escape' order. People are being forced into making false statements by being threatened with their freedoms, their families, and their children. They are dreaming of a Turkey without the CHP. They want a Turkey without an opposition, where the ballot box is merely symbolic. Because the CHP became Turkey's leading party in the 2024 local elections. It determined its presidential candidate with 15.5 million votes. We are a party marching toward power with confident steps. They want to stop this march, but they will not succeed. We will wage this struggle together with our nation."

Özgür Çelik stated that he had two separate phone conversations with CHP Chairman Özgür Özel in the morning and provided him with information regarding the process in Istanbul. Emphasizing that there has been no change in the general rally program so far, Çelik said, "The Chairman's program has not been canceled. There is no decision taken regarding the rallies."