31.10.2026 16:00
Within the scope of the Bakırköy Municipality investigation, 39 people were arrested. Among those arrested is Abdülhamit Pehlivan, Deputy Mayor and brother of Mehmet Pehlivan, the detained lawyer of suspended Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. Lawyer Pehlivan, making a statement from Marmara Prison in Silivri, said, "My brother was taking care of my parents, who have cancer. You arrested him. We have no one left."
Of the suspects taken to the courthouse yesterday morning and whose proceedings continued until this morning, 39 were sent to prison with a detention order. Among those detained were the brother of Mehmet Pehlivan, the detained lawyer of suspended Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu—Deputy Mayor Abdülhamit Pehlivan—as well as Deputy Mayor Ali Rıza Akyüz, who was released in the IMM case.
AKYÜZ IS ALSO AMONG THOSE DETAINED
Among the 39 people detained as part of the Bakırköy Municipality investigation is Abdülhamit Pehlivan, Deputy Mayor of Bakırköy, the brother of Mehmet Pehlivan, the detained lawyer of suspended IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. Deputy Mayor Ali Rıza Akyüz, who was released at the IMM case hearing on September 4, was also among those detained.
“I WAS TELLING HIM THAT HIS DOOR COULD BE KNOCKED ON”
Lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan reacted from Marmara Prison in Silivri to his brother’s detention. In a statement posted on Pehlivan’s social media account, the following remarks were included:
“This morning my brother Abdülhamit Pehlivan, Deputy Mayor of Bakırköy, was detained. During my 17 months of detention, on his every visit, I was telling him that in this judicial climate his door could be knocked on over an issue he had nothing to do with—one that was not even contrary to the law.
Although he believed in his brother’s innocence, because he had spent half his life as a civil servant, deep down he could not accept that the state would do these things. His heart was at ease because he defended the public-minded approach even more than his own name. In the end, his door was knocked on in connection with matters he had nothing to do with. Questions were asked. He answered every question with laws and regulations. Of course, those who knocked on his door knew those answers too. In any case, their issue was neither the questions nor the answers. They detained him.”
“HE WAS TAKING CARE OF MY CANCER-STRICKEN PARENTS; WE HAVE NO ONE LEFT”
Also touching on his family’s situation in his statement, Pehlivan said, “My brother was taking care of my parents, who have cancer. Just as he looked after his two small children, for 17 months he also attended to my daughter’s needs. You detained him. We have no one left.”
Pehlivan concluded his statement by including lines from the poet Ahmed Arif.