In October 2025, a new case accusing imprisoned Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu of espionage was announced by the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor.
An indictment accuses İmamoğlu, his advisor Necati Özkan, and opposition journalist Merdan Yanardağ of ‘political espionage’. The Istanbul Mayor is alleged to have shared personal data of Istanbul residents with foreign governments in order to secure funding for his 2019 mayoral campaign.
The indictment rests heavily upon admissions made by Hüseyin Gün, a businessman arrested in July 2025 on suspicions of conducting intelligence activities on behalf of foreign governments. Text messages exchanged between Gün and foreign intelligence services such as the United Kingdom, United States, and Israel also form a bulk of the evidence in the case.
Message exchanges between Gün and Yanardağ
A series of text messages between Gün and Yanardağ discussing political matters in the lead-up to the 2019 Istanbul mayoral election reportedly form a portion of the evidence in the case.
Merdan Yanardağ, a long-time opposition journalist in Turkey, served as the Editor-in-Chief of television channel Tele1 before the channel was taken over by a government-appointed trustee in late October 2025 following accusations of ‘espionage’. Employees of the opposition-leaning station resigned en masse following Yanardağ’s removal. The episode followed a 5-day broadcast ban given to Tele1 in August 2025 over remarks made by Yanardağ concerning Turkey’s 2016 failed coup d’etat attempt.
The text exchanges between Yanardağ and Gün, described by some as an innocuous commentary on opposition-related political issues, are being used by prosecutors as evidence of ‘espionage’ in the case.
Expert analysis casts doubt on culpability of İmamoğlu and associates
Forensic IT expert Tuncay Beşikçi prepared a cybersecurity analysis of the case, appearing to absolve the Istanbul Mayor and his associates of culpability in leaking personal data of Istanbul residents.
According to Beşikçi’s analysis, the data leak in question occurred prior to İmamoğlu’s candidacy in the 2019 local elections and was obtained by hackers, after which it appeared online as Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). The analysis therefore alleges that neither the Istanbul Municipality (İBB) nor İmamoğlu were responsible for the leak. The leaked data was reportedly login information used by Istanbul residents on websites outside the İBB system.
The leaked login information allegedly belonged to other government-affiliated Turkish websites ending in ‘gov.tr,’ such as the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education (MEB), and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK).
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
