26.10.2025 18:00
The statement of Hüseyin Gün, who is a cooperating witness in the 'espionage' investigation involving Ekrem İmamoğlu, has emerged. Gün emphasized that during the 2019 elections, they provided data obtained from the system to the team led by Necati Özkan and that İmamoğlu was aware of all these activities. Gün stated, "The person referred to as 'Mayor' in the correspondence is Ekrem İmamoğlu."
Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was suspended from his position after being arrested as part of the 'corruption' investigation against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, is under investigation regarding the 'espionage' allegations involving strategist Necati Özkan, TELE 1's appointed General Manager Merdan Yanardağ, technology investor Hüseyin Gün, and suspect Melih Geçek.
THE STATEMENT OF THE INFORMANT HÜSEYİN GÜN HAS EMERGED As part of the investigation, suspect Gün gave a statement, wishing to benefit from the effective remorse provisions. In his statement, Gün said, "On June 10, 2019, I met Necati Özkan at the suggestion of my spiritual mother Seher A. After that, we worked together on the election process between the first election date of March 31, 2019, and the second election date of June 23, 2019. Necati Özkan was both the political advisor and the manager of Ekrem İmamoğlu's election campaign. I had a company called 'Piiq' and my partners were Darren, Aaron, and Ed. Aaron is a former intelligence service employee. All analysis processes in the company were carried out by Aaron together with the technical team. There is a program called 'Osint' (Open Source Intelligence), which is an umbrella program. Under this umbrella, there are pieces of information that you can access sensitive information on the internet, such as the 'dark web.' This is the underground of the internet," he said.
"EMAILS AND PASSWORDS GAVE THE ABILITY TO ACCESS THE DEEPEST INFORMATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY" Suspect Gün, stating that Necati Özkan asked him to look at the program called 'Osint,' said, "In the research we conducted in Osint, there were many corporate emails and passwords belonging to the IMM. These emails and passwords provided the ability to access the deepest information of the municipality. Here, internal correspondence and information flow within the municipality could be seen, but there was only information procurement. No intervention could be made. Necati Özkan was also familiar with this 'Osint' realm. I had already made a general briefing while I was in his office. Therefore, Necati Özkan was in a position to know what the data there could cost. In the rechecks we did in Osint, we saw that there was more than the first data we encountered. It was Necati Özkan who directed me to Osint. Once you enter, you also have access to the information that comes later. The data in Osint exists either through hacking or by someone uploading it there. This is only 10% of the capability we have. We were also trying to create perception based on internal correspondence through social media accounts with the software we had," he said.
"THE PERSON REFERRED TO AS 'MAYOR' IN THE CORRESPONDENCE IS ALSO EKREM İMAMOĞLU" In the continuation of his statement, suspect Gün said, "I shared the analyses we conducted with Necati Özkan. The creator of the software we had, which had very broad authorities as a company, was a closed operations director in the American intelligence service. The name of this program is 'pq,' and this person was my partner Aaron. Aaron is already retired from intelligence. I would give the analyses I conducted to Necati Özkan and tell him to convey them to the president. He would convey them to the president. The person referred to as the president is Ekrem İmamoğlu. The person referred to as 'Mayor' in the correspondence is also Ekrem İmamoğlu. After the 2019 election, there were individuals named Melih Geçek, Necati Özkan, Yavuz Saltık, and Şenay. In this meeting, we introduced a project called 'Istanbul is Yours,' but there was no such application at that time. As far as I know, the person named Melih Geçek was one of the most authorized individuals in IT. In the meeting, Geçek was introduced as IT in the private sector, and it was said that he would work in the municipality soon," he said.
"I WOULD SOMETIMES GIVE SMALL AMOUNTS OF MONEY TO MERDAN YANARDAĞ" Suspect Hüseyin Gün, stating that he was introduced to Merdan Yanardağ by his spiritual mother, said, "I would sometimes give small amounts of money in cash, I would give the money to support his channel. I conveyed the questions I described to be asked in the interview Merdan Yanardağ had with Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, and similar questions were asked, even if they were not the same. Mine was purely a recommendation."
"İMAMOĞLU WAS AWARE OF ALL OUR ACTIVITIES" Gün continued his words as follows: "In general, I supported İmamoğlu's election campaign by conducting analyses and reporting during the 2019 elections. My contact was with Necati Özkan. Özkan also worked with us with İmamoğlu's knowledge. Our directions were largely like that. Sometimes we had complaints in points where it did not fit. After the election, we congratulated him at the municipality building in Saraçhane with my spiritual mother Seher. He also thanked us for our help. Therefore, as can be understood from his thanks, he was aware of all our activities."