The İBB Case, involving 414 defendants, 53 of whom are in pretrial detention, including presidential candidate and İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, is continuing at the Istanbul 33rd High Criminal Court on its 75th day. At the hearing held in the courtroom built at the Marmara Closed Prison in Silivri, the release requests of the remaining 13 detained defendants are being heard after the defenses of 40 defendants were heard over the past 4 days. Following the statements by the lawyers of Fatoş Ayık, Taner Çetin and Turgut Hökenek, İPA President Buğra Gökce presented his defense.
Gökce stated that he had held positions in the public sector ranging from city planning to secretary-general and general manager, and said that the signatures cited in the accusations concerned routine council procedures related to municipal subsidiaries securing contracts. He argued that these procedures were neither secret nor extraordinary and that they had not provided any benefit to him or anyone else. Rejecting the claim that he was part of a team from Beylikdüzü, Gökce said that he had worked at Istanbul Municipality for 17 months between 2022 and 2023, then resigned and ran for mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, but was not nominated.
Rejecting the accusations of membership in an organization and tender-related offenses, Gökce stated that he had no assets or financial interests and had committed no crime. Saying that he had been detained for more than 15 months, Gökce expressed his sadness that his wife had to attend the hearings and over his mother, who uses a wheelchair.
Why it matters
This stage of the hearing marks a critical point at which the defendants’ detention statuses and defenses are being assessed together. Gökce’s defense rests on the argument that the signatures concerning municipal subsidiaries were routine procedures carried out as part of his public duties and that no personal benefit was obtained; therefore, the central issue in the debate is how these procedures are linked to the scope of the charges. Gökce’s statement that his tenure at Istanbul Municipality was limited to 17 months and that he then resigned is also one of the key elements of the defense he has built against the allegation of an organizational link. At this stage, it remains unclear according to which criteria the court will assess the requests of the remaining detainees and the defendants’ explanations regarding the charges.
Background
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: over the past 90 days, we have published 3 news reports mentioning it; the most recent was dated September 3, 2026.