İmamoğlu’s Real “Crime”!..

While AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik says, “We have no information about the file,” regarding the operation conducted against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the pro-government media, as always, is publishing the “crimes” of İmamoğlu and his team in full detail, preparing the groundwork for his arrest.

Supposedly, there is a confidentiality order on the file!..

According to one pro-government media columnist, “the issue is not political, but criminal.”

If the issue were truly and solely “criminal” as alleged, a mayor whom the people of Istanbul have elected three times despite all obstacles would not be detained in a dawn raid, would he?

WHO/WHAT IS THIS ''STATE''?

But fortunately, there are pro-government columnists who reveal the real “radish” in the bag.

For example, Okan Müderrisoğlu, the Ankara Representative of the Erdoğan family’s newspaper Sabah, explained what he saw with his “professional experience” four days before İmamoğlu was detained:

“Ekrem İmamoğlu does not inspire confidence in Ankara! Yes, yes... That living organism we call the ‘State,’ with its various institutions and organizations, looks at İmamoğlu with suspicion. His style of seeing every means as permissible to reach a goal, the intricate relationships he has entered into for his political future, and his political stance that never takes its eyes off global focal points do not inspire trust. In other words... Those who have made it a habit to look at what is happening from the window of the AK Party and the Külliye need to look at the ‘state horizon’ far beyond this perspective and ask ‘Why?’”

Let us underline the “State’s” findings regarding İmamoğlu: He supposedly sees every means as permissible to reach a goal... He has entered into intricate relationships for his political future... He does not take his eyes off global focal points... He does not inspire confidence!..

Yesterday, Müderrisoğlu also claimed that İmamoğlu has turned into a “political figure who has lost his way, establishing opportunistic relationships with the outside world, capital groups, sects/communities, and Alevi and Kurdish opinion leaders,” and that he has positioned Ankara as a “center of power that must be seized.”

YES, THIS IS WHAT A LEADER SHOULD BE

What a coincidence, the famous Fuat Uğur is of almost the same opinion. In his column yesterday, where he questioned “who the leader of 2028 will be,” Uğur listed the “indispensable conditions” for the leader to be elected as follows:

“First of all, that leader must not be a man, pawn, or apparatus of any foreign power or global structure; he must have patriotism, resistance against the fight against terrorism and not allowing his country to be divided; loyalty to his flag, his country, the faith, traditions, values, and national anthem of his citizens; he must have a decent character, be respectful and honest towards others, not lie, and not compromise on the country’s independence.”

Then, asking “Will the opposition’s leader candidate have the characteristics I listed above?”, he noted the following:

“This is the danger awaiting Turkey... Some want to paralyze us by bringing up the possibility of him [İmamoğlu] winning and asking, ‘You’re scared, aren’t you?’ Yes, we are scared. For Turkey. For the future of this country. I listed the indispensable conditions for a leader above. You decide which ones he has.”

ACCORDING TO KARAGÜL, İMAMOĞLU WAS AN ''INTERNAL THREAT''

İbrahim Karagül, a columnist for Yeni Şafak who set out to conquer the world before the government did, declared that he did not care about diplomas, money, or intrigues, and then made the following confessions along with the reasons for the troubles regarding İmamoğlu:

“We have been establishing empires in Anatolia for a thousand years. We have experienced great extinctions. We stood up again. We settled accounts with the world. Now we have entered into great calculations again. We have become a super country again... It is precisely in this period that no son of Anatolia can bear for this work to be sabotaged. This is above all political identities and calculations. This is where we stand. How can a great country, a great Turkey, be sacrificed to this ‘cheapness’! Could it be? It will not be, and it was not. Along with him, his entire organization and all his structures were dismantled. An internal threat was eliminated. Those who think this is an internal political issue are making a big mistake. As time passes, the nature of the matter will become clearer. His organizational ties at home and abroad will become clearer. The internal coup plans against Turkey will be exposed even more... Is this person more valuable than Turkey? Among the immunities granted to him, is there also the right to shrink Turkey?.. He is never national. He is never part of the State Continuity of the Republic of Turkey. He is never on the side of the Great Turkey being built today. We get angry looking from here! And this anger is a thousand years old. This country cannot be surrendered to those who say ‘Persecution began in 1453’! And it will not be.”

DID İMAMOĞLU DO THESE THINGS?

Before moving on to the fourth columnist, let us take a breath and think about these extremely serious and important accusations against İmamoğlu.

If we start with İbrahim Karagül’s last sentence; did İmamoğlu recognize the Istanbul Fener Greek Patriarchate’s claim of “ecumenicity,” which means a “state within a state” contrary to the Treaty of Lausanne, and we didn't hear about it? Or did İmamoğlu pave the way for Patriarch Bartholomew to now openly use the title, “Hellenic Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch”?!

Let us continue with some other examples.

Did İmamoğlu accept the “co-presidency of the Greater Middle East Project (BOP)”?..

Did he stand by the imperialists in the fragmentation of Iraq, Syria, and Libya?..

Did he stop the operation in Syria upon Trump’s threat, “I will destroy your economy... Be smart”?..

Did he turn Turkey into a refugee camp for the sake of a few pennies from the EU?..

Just recently, did Trump meet with him and say, “We trust you in the region”?..

Did he turn a blind eye to Greece occupying and arming our islands in the Aegean?..

Did he support the Greek Cypriot side’s entry into the EU?.. Did he watch as the US, France, and Israel stationed themselves there, violating our right of guarantee?.. After saying “It is now time for the TRNC to be recognized,” did he not lift a finger on this issue, and did he ignore the friendly and brotherly country Kazakhstan opening an embassy in the Greek Cypriot side or our “man” Ahmet el Şara meeting with the Greek Cypriot side as the “Republic of Cyprus,” and finally sit back at the table for the solution of the “Cyprus problem”?..

Did he finish off our agriculture and livestock and sell our underground and above-ground wealth and assets because the EU wanted it?..

Did he say he trampled all kinds of nationalism underfoot?..

Did he “give whatever they wanted” to “FETÖ” and call out, “Come back, let this longing end”?..

The list is long; but let us stop here and move on to the fourth columnist.

PKK ACCUSATION

Hilal Kaplan from Sabah stated that “the State is carrying out efforts to liquidate the terrorist organization PKK,” and that Ekrem İmamoğlu is “accused of placing the management and resources of the IMM at the disposal of the terrorist organization PKK,” adding, “You don’t need a university degree to understand that these two situations are not the same thing.”

Yes, one of the reasons for İmamoğlu’s detention is “knowingly participating in the ‘urban reconciliation’ activity, which aims to increase the effectiveness of the PKK terrorist organization in metropolises.”

When “increasing the effectiveness of the PKK in metropolises” is mentioned, for some reason, the Oslo negotiations during the first resolution process immediately come to my mind.

At the table where Hakan Fidan was also present, the then-Deputy Undersecretary of MIT, Afet Güneş, had said to one of the terrorist leaders, Sabri Ok, “We know, by the way, you have filled the metropolises with explosives”!..

Hilal Kaplan says, “The State is carrying out efforts to liquidate the PKK”; let us just ask this:

What does it mean when the terrorist leader in Imralı calls for the liquidation of the PKK while saying, “For integration with the State and society”?!!

LIKE EVREN’S NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL

According to these pro-government media columnists; in summary, since he is someone “dangerous” for the country, the nation, and the state, İmamoğlu’s presidential candidacy must be prevented.

Yesterday, Damla Doğan Tuncel from Korkusuz reminded that there is a Guardian Council in Iran, that one must apply here to be a presidential candidate, but that they can only become a candidate if the Council gives permission and approval.

After the September 12 coup, we also had a National Security Council established by Kenan Evren.

Members who would serve in the Consultative Assembly or at least 30 founding members of the parties that would enter the election had to pass the approval of this council.

Would you like us to return to those days at this rate!..

But since the pro-government media has become the “decision-making authority” on this issue as well, what is the need, right?!

Müyesser YILDIZ

March 21, 2025