DistantNews
Support us
What is the Content of the Operations Against Municipalities?
🇹🇷 Turkey /Crime & Justice

What is the Content of the Operations Against Municipalities?

From Cumhuriyet · () Turkish

Translated from Turkish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Under investigation
  • The article questions the content and purpose of recent police operations targeting several municipalities, including Adalar, Seferihisar, Bornova, and Şile.
  • It details allegations against Adalar Mayor Ali Ercan Akpolat for forming an organization and accepting bribes, citing various forms of evidence mentioned in reports.
  • The piece focuses on the testimony of a municipal employee named Kasım, whose actions involving municipal supplies and hard drives led to an investigation and subsequent operation.

Recent police operations targeting municipalities such as Adalar, Seferihisar, Bornova, and Şile have raised questions about the nature and justification of these actions, which have resulted in numerous detentions.

Are you aware of the content of the operations against the municipalities?

— AuthorIntroducing the topic of recent police operations against municipalities.

The Adalar Municipality is specifically implicated, with allegations that Mayor Ali Ercan Akpolat led an organization that accepted bribes from businesspeople under various pretexts. Reports mention the existence of voice recordings, camera footage, MASAK (Financial Crimes Investigation Board) reports, and HTS records as evidence. However, the article notes difficulty in accessing these specific documents, referencing a Sabah newspaper report that cited the testimony of an individual named Kasım and a surrendered hard disk.

Sabah newspaper also mentioned the testimony of a person named 'Kasım' and a hard disk that was handed over.

— AuthorReferencing a newspaper report about evidence in the Adalar Municipality case.

The focus then shifts to Kasım, an employee in the municipal support services, who was reportedly found storing municipal supplies like cleaning materials and stationery at his personal address in 2025. A report was filed against him. The deputy mayor, Fırat Durak, became suspicious when Kasım refused to provide passwords for security cameras, eventually leading to an incident where Kasım and an unidentified individual were found tampering with the hard drives in the camera recording room after hours.

The hard drives were stolen.

— Fırat DurakThe deputy mayor's report to authorities after the incident involving the hard drives.

This incident prompted Durak to file a report with the prosecutor's office and police, stating that the hard drives were stolen. Three months later, Kasım reportedly testified before the Anadolu Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, claiming he took the hard drives to prove his allegations of corruption. The article points out inconsistencies in Kasım's statements, noting he provided testimony on three separate occasions due to discrepancies in dates and names, before the operation against the municipality was launched.

He confessed that he took the hard disks to prove that what he narrated was true and submitted them to the prosecutor's office.

— AuthorExplaining Kasım's alleged motive for taking the hard drives.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Cumhuriyet in Turkish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog