Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an ex officio investigation into YENİ Parti Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik over his statements concerning Üsküdar Municipal Council Member Ayhan Aydın. YENİ Parti Istanbul Provincial Directorate, meanwhile, filed a criminal complaint alleging that council members were forced to vote for the AK Parti candidate through threats and pressure in the rerun election for Üsküdar’s deputy mayor.
Calling for the investigation to be expanded, Çelik went to the Istanbul Courthouse to give a statement. At the courthouse entrance, he said he stood by the statements he had made outside Üsküdar Municipality and that he would also tell the prosecutor’s office the truth.
Why it matters
The case shows how the investigation of a political statement and the judicial review of allegations concerning the election process in local government have been brought together within the same political tension. For this reason, the issue is not only Özgür Çelik’s statement-taking process; it is also necessary to clarify to what extent the election for Üsküdar’s deputy mayor was connected to the allegations of pressure and threats. The legal boundaries of Çelik’s statements and the grounds for the allegations put forward in the criminal complaint constitute two issues that must be distinguished from each other in the process. What remains unclear is which concrete assessments the prosecutor’s office will proceed on and how the allegations concerning the council members who voted in the election will be examined.
Background
Istanbul is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: over the past 90 days, we have published 14 reports mentioning this name; the most recent is dated 11 September 2026.