Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
The court released four defendants, while informants who testified under effective remorse provisions refused to answer most questions from defense lawyers during cross-examination, claiming their previous testimonies were based on hearsay.
The main Istanbul Municipality corruption trial completed its 87th day on Sept. 24. The court heard nine more defendants, leaving 63 of 325 still to testify, as the presiding judge aims to complete the second session by the end of September.
The last hearing in the second session of the Istanbul Municipality case regarding corruption accusations closed before 6 p.m. for the first time on Sept. 17, after weeks of hearings that had stretched late into the night.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said a supplementary indictment is being prepared in the Istanbul Municipality corruption case, as the court’s agenda shifted from hearing detained defendants to hearing those on trial who are not in detention.
Only two of the 53 formally arrested defendants in the Istanbul Municipality trial were released on the case's 75th hearing day, as relatives of those still held broke down in tears in the courtroom.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been behind bars since March 2025, and his co-defendants are increasingly pessimistic about the outcome of the hearings in the Istanbul Municipality trial.
The four-month-long first session of the Istanbul Municipality trial ended on July 8 without the testimony of its main defendant: Ekrem İmamoğlu, the jailed Istanbul mayor and ousted CHP administration's presidential candidate, who is accused of being the leader of an alleged criminal organization.
Hundreds of defendants in the Istanbul Municipality trial can collect pensions, easing the financial strain many have suffered since the start of pretrial detentions in March 2025.
Nine defendants were released at the 53rd hearing of the Istanbul Municipality’s corruption trial, bringing the total number of releases in the case to 51.
Allegations of ill-treatment, strip searches and prosecutorial threats dominated this week's hearings at the Istanbul Municipality corruption trial, as defendants described abusive detention conditions and coerced statements.
Fifteen more pre-trial defendants were released in the corruption case targeting the Istanbul Municipality, including Adem Soytekin, a businessperson who applied for leniency under Turkey's remorse law, as the war of words between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and main opposition CHP Chair Özgür Özel showed no signs of abating over the case.
"This political case will collapse," Istanbul Mayor and the CHP's presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu declared repeatedly while delivering the last remarks on the 15th session of the corruption hearing. The courtroom was again full like the first days of the hearing as many were expecting a court ruling on release of several defendants. Only 18 of those under pre-trial detention were released, according to the midnight interim ruling. As expected, İmamoğlu’s executive assistant Kadriye Kasapoğlu and low profile figures like the drivers or workers were released but former CHP MP Aykut Erdoğdu was not on the list.