15.10.2026 14:30
On the 99th day of the İBB trial, Ekrem İmamoğlu, continuing his defense, said that the accusations regarding the takeover process of the CHP Istanbul Provincial Chairmanship were told to the then party leader in his presence, and requested that Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu be heard as a witness. İmamoğlu also denied the allegation in the indictment of a $2 billion fund. The trial with 436 defendants, 53 of whom are detained, continues in Silivri.
Presidential candidate and Mayor of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Ekrem İmamoğlu, in his defense in the IMM case, recalling the headlines and accusations made regarding the process of the CHP Istanbul Provincial Directorate being taken over, said, “It was told to the then party leader right before my eyes. He has a retort for everything. He does not answer on this issue. I request that Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu be heard as a witness on this matter.”
The 99th day of the IMM Trial, with 436 defendants, 53 of whom are detained, including presidential candidate and Mayor of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Ekrem İmamoğlu, is being heard by the Istanbul 33rd Heavy Penal Court at the Marmara Closed Penal Execution Institution campus in Silivri.
İmamoğlu, who completed the first day of his defense yesterday, continues to defend himself today. Ekrem İmamoğlu argued that the indictment against them was written in November 2025, exactly 8 months after the detention, and that an unaccepted indictment was distributed to pro-government journalists before being submitted to the court.
İmamoğlu said, “As for me, it was delivered to me three months later, on January 22, on DVDs. Let’s look at the numbers: 4,000 pages of indictment, 80,000 pages of annexes, and two hours of computer access per week in prison. So, in two hours a week, over a limited number of weeks, I am supposed to read 84,000 pages and master the subject. I don’t understand these things, but what is the point of pouring this into 84,000 pages and writing a 4,000-page indictment anyway? No one will read this. It is already empty. Both the one who ordered it and the one who wrote it know. Do you know what is behind this? As I said yesterday, they looked in the mirror and wrote. This is an indictment they wrote saying, ‘Well, Ekrem must have done it too,’ based on whatever they did or practiced in their own lives.”
I HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF METHODS LIKE BURYING MONEY IN THE GROUND
Stating that he also wondered why they dug up his father’s field, İmamoğlu noted:
“We even joked on the phone: ‘Tell them to dig the field next to it too, maybe you’ll plant crops. Let them search there instead of you.’ Why do they look into a man’s well? They were looking for money! They break down doors that they wrote were closed and go inside. I began to suspect those who wrote this. I began to suspect those who wrote and those who ordered it. Those who know these methods could do this job. I don’t know these methods. I have no knowledge of such methods. Hiding money after writing it, burying money in the ground, putting gold at the bottom of a well… Do I really care that much? Opening accounts in European countries! Opening accounts offshore! I swear, I don’t know. How these accounts work in Switzerland, Luxembourg, or I don’t know which islands, here and there, I don’t know.”
Ekrem İmamoğlu recounted that while doing business with his father, they suffered greatly during the economic crises of 1994, 1997, 2001, and 2008. Saying that they loved doing business but did not love money, İmamoğlu said, “Those who love this money, wherever they hide this business or whatever they do, must know a method. They wrote it here, but it has nothing to do with us. It has already become clear that it doesn’t. Because there is none, none.”
THE INDICTMENT IS THE PEN OF A HEADLINE WRITER
Ekrem İmamoğlu, saying that the hearings began on March 9, that is, one year after their arrest, and that people still have not learned what they are accused of, continued as follows:
“Anyone who reads the indictment immediately notices one thing: This text is not the pen of a lawyer, but of a headline writer. They even say ‘the octopus’s arms,’ ‘power poisoning,’ ‘he usurped.’ But there is no such accusation. Because these words were written not for the court, but for the screen. They like it. They also like carrying media members who love this job with them. But it became a heavy burden for him. So, what is this indictment based on? I will not say it; the indictment itself says it. The sentence right above the organization chart is as follows: ‘When all evidence is taken together, especially the statements of organization members benefiting from effective remorse provisions, among other effective remorse provisions obtained within the scope of the investigation…’ At the top is not a document, look. At the top is not a bank record. At the top is not a wiretap. At the top is an informer! That is, ‘allegedly, supposedly.’ He said, he stated. The foundation of this building is this word. I just explained how that foundation was poured. The indictment confesses one more thing with its own mouth. In one act, it says about me, ‘Even if he is not the person directly requesting it…’ In many incidents, it accepts that it did not happen: ‘Although he did not take part in this act…’ and uses similar expressions. Not the requester, not the one who agreed, not in the act, but write that name at the top of the penalty! There are a few more names treated this way.”
Stating that there is not a single bank receipt, money trail, instruction letter, audio recording, or image in the file, and not a single witness saying “I saw it with my own eyes,” Ekrem İmamoğlu used the following expressions: “But on my side and each of my friends’ side, there are title deeds, invoices, notary documents. In their explanations, there are block, parcel, project. There are bank transfers, Treasury permits, a ‘no debt’ letter from the Social Security Institution, decisions taken unanimously by the IMM Assembly, letters written by the MAPEG General Directorate, decisions taken by the Ministry of Energy. All of it exists! On the other side, ‘allegedly, supposedly.’ Documents are with us, gossip is with them. The whole story of this case is these four words: Documents are with us, gossip is with them.”
Saying that the indictment began entirely with political motives, İmamoğlu noted:
“Let’s set aside the acts. Let’s set aside bribery, tenders, permits, reports. What remains? In fact, an entirely political story. This case is political. I say it again: This case is political. The indictment does not hide this story either. It writes it with its own hand under nine headings: Taking over a party and becoming a presidential candidate. Crime! A libel indictment that even notifies the Court of Cassation for the closure of that party, including the party congress and provincial congress, party building, journalists, voter data, espionage, district candidates, matching candidates with subsidiaries. A complete comedy, complete nonsense! I will read all nine with the indictment’s own sentences. Opposite each one, I will put what was said in this hall. Our nation will render the verdict. But those who love this money, wherever they hide this business or whatever they do, must know a method. They wrote it here, but it has nothing to do with us. It has already become clear that it doesn’t. Because there is none, none!
KILIÇDAROĞLU SHOULD BE HEARD AS A WITNESS
Referring to the headlines and accusations made regarding the process of the CHP Istanbul Provincial Directorate being taken over, Ekrem İmamoğlu said, “It was told to the then party leader right before my eyes. He has a retort for everything. He does not answer on this issue. I request that Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu be heard as a witness on this matter.”
Stating that the indictment includes a quotation such as “Our current goal is for Ekrem İmamoğlu to become president. Just as a fund was created to take over the party…,” İmamoğlu noted that it was claimed he collected a fund of 2 billion dollars for himself to become president.
I LEARNED ABOUT THE FUND HERE
Ekrem İmamoğlu spoke as follows:
“Fund! I have never said such a thing as a fund in my life, I don’t know.I learned about the fund here. 'And if success was achieved in this matter, now we also need a large fund for the presidential election. Those who contribute to this fund will prosper.' By God, someone who has done this job writes this. I don't know. Look, would someone who has done it write this? Or have it written. Go back into history, look; by God, you will find it. I can't find it, I remained ignorant. Someone who did or commissioned this job wrote that text. Or, in that fund matter, billions were poured, and whoever is behind it had this written too. The exact same person. So it is a very clear text. Neither did such a thing cross my mind, nor my thought, nor do I have such a goal. The Creator is witness, my friends are witness. Who said this sentence, to whom, where, on what date? Which fund? Which account? Which bank? When the day comes, I will ask the one who wrote this. God will show me those days. I will ask, I will ask. By God, I will ask, 'With what mindset did you write this? What did you eat?' God willing, I will see those days.
Who called whom a murderer? Who has prospered? There is no receipt behind it, no account activity, no date, no fund; the fund itself does not exist. None, none. For months, something like 2 billion dollars circulated in the headlines. What was it, sir? Supposedly, at least 2 billion dollars were needed for us to win the election. By God, neither 2 billion crossed my mind, nor 2 billion dollars, nor a 2-billion-dollar fund. So those who knew this did this job with a 2-billion-dollar fund and moved on. Who, I wonder? Good Lord! Our nation will find this out when it thinks. I can't find it, I am ignorant. I don't know. So someone did this in this way. Supposedly, a 2-billion-dollar fund was needed. As far as I know, what is needed is the people's vote at the ballot box. God also knows how I went street by street in Istanbul. No one gave me a chance. His Excellency, the country's President, did he say, 'Are you going to elect the mayor of a district left in a corner as president? Are you going to elect Binali Yıldırım or Sisi?' He said it. What did he do? Ekrem İmamoğlu, who came before the nation from that district left in a corner with complete sincerity and his project, won the election. Period. That is what I know. I started my first political tour in the streets of Bağcılar. For the first 15 days, I did not go to any district where the party was in power.
A 2 billion fund! Who said that? A man named Sarp Yalçınkaya. I don't know him, not at all. He heard it from him, he heard it from him, he heard it from him, and he heard it from him too. 'Allegedly, allegedly, allegedly, allegedly.' A four-story gossip. Ah, ah! Now, by building these chains, doing transactions from here, saying I solved the processes... Probably a prosecutor writes something and runs to the Chief Prosecutor: 'How did this happen, sir, if you could take a look. Did this lie turn out well?' Then the Chief Prosecutor takes it, says, 'No, no, you add some more things to this again,' the prosecutor goes, runs again. Probably it's like that. Allegedly, among the names mentioned in this fund amount is a businessman named Murat Gülibrahimoğlu. Here the figures were poured out one by one from top to bottom. He deposited 42 million into my rival's campaign. 42 million, in 2024 figures, that is, 42 million with the figures from three years ago. I will talk a little about this in later items. The person to whom he deposited millions of lira, 42 million, is Murat Kurum. It's not me. They said, 'Gak guk.' 'Well, it's not like that, but...' and so on and so forth! Drop the gak guk! The man who collects my presidential fund will do this, and you will fabricate a lie from this, and try to make the nation swallow that lie. Get out of here! People who reek of mediocrity!"
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