20.03.2025 09:51
Regarding the operation against Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, legal action has been initiated against 261 account managers due to their social media posts. The police have detained 37 suspects as part of the investigation.
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and 105 others have been issued a detention order on charges of 'establishing a criminal organization, bribery, extortion, and corruption' and 'aiding a terrorist organization.' A total of 87 individuals, including İmamoğlu, were detained yesterday in a dawn operation. Following this, action was taken regarding accounts that made provocative posts on social media.
AN INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN INITIATED
Regarding the provocative posts on social media, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that an investigation has been initiated. Minister Yerlikaya stated, '261 suspect account managers who made provocative posts on social media have been identified. 37 suspects have been apprehended, and efforts to capture the other suspects are ongoing.'
In the statement made by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on social media, the following expressions were used:
As part of the investigations initiated by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, after a detention order was issued for a total of 106 suspects, including the Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, it was determined that provocative posts were made through some social media accounts under the framework of;
-"Inciting the Public to Hatred and Hostility" and
-"Inciting to Commit a Crime."
A total of 261 suspect account managers have been identified, 62 of whom are believed to be abroad.
After coordinated efforts by our Cyber Crime Department and Security Department, 37 suspects have been apprehended, and efforts to capture the other suspects are ongoing.
On the social media platform Twitter (X), it was observed that a total of 18,647,269 posts related to this issue were made until 06:00 on March 20, 2025, following the detention operations, with 66% of these posts coming from named accounts and 34% from bot accounts.
In accordance with the authority granted by the laws, our Cyber Crime Department conducts virtual patrol activities 24/7 in order to combat crime and criminals in the online environment.