Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been imprisoned since March, is now the subject of a high-profile espionage investigation, with prosecutors alleging he led a criminal organization that leaked citizen data to foreign intelligence services. The sprawling probe intensified dramatically on Friday morning with the arrest of prominent journalist Merdan Yanardağ and a police raid on the offices of the opposition-aligned television channel, TELE 1.
The operation was first announced live on air by Gökhan Kayış, a host on TELE 1, who reported that counter-terrorism police had arrived at the station in the early hours. According to reports from Turkish internet media, including news outlet Odatv which claimed to have obtained details of the case file, police searched the office of TELE 1's editor-in-chief, Merdan Yanardağ, for approximately one hour before taking him into custody.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office alleges that İmamoğlu headed a "for-profit criminal organization" with the primary goal of creating a fund for a future presidential campaign. The investigation claims that this was achieved by siphoning personal data through municipal applications. Specifically, prosecutors allege that data from 4.7 million users of the "İstanbul Senin" app was leaked to two foreign countries, while voting data of 11 million citizens from the "İBB Hanem" app was also illegally processed and shared. In connection with these allegations, detention orders were issued for 15 individuals, including six executives from Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) affiliate companies.
The case appears to hinge on a previously detained figure, Hüseyin Gün, who was arrested in July on espionage charges. Prosecutors claim Gün acted as a handler in the alleged criminal network, maintaining contact with foreign intelligence agents, including a purported MI6 member, C. Paul McGrath. Encrypted messages allegedly show Gün instructing İmamoğlu's campaign director, Necati Özkan, on "digital intelligence gathering" and warning him that a senior aide's phone was compromised with spyware. Both İmamoğlu and Özkan will be transferred from prison to be questioned on the new espionage charges.
In a fiery statement released from his Presidential Candidate Office social media account, İmamoğlu vehemently denied the accusations. "A lie and conspiracy that not even the devil could imagine! We are faced with a shameful immorality that cannot be described with words," he wrote. He framed the probe as a desperate political attack, asking, "Is this how you will convince this noble nation, which you could not persuade with accusations of corruption and terrorism, with an unbelievable slander like espionage?"
Photo: Wikipedia