YENİ Party Manisa Chair İlksen Özalper Arrested in Bribery Probe

İlksen Özalper, the provincial chair of the YENİ Party in Manisa, has been arrested as part of a bribery investigation transferred from the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. The arrest decision was announced by Ahmet Vehbi Bakırlıoğlu, the YENİ Party's Manisa Deputy, who voiced strong support for Özalper. "Our President İlksen has unfortunately been arrested," Bakırlıoğlu stated on social media. "We see what the target is and who this dirty game serves. But they should know this: they cannot scare us. They cannot silence us. They cannot make us step back. We will grow stronger against every injustice. Our President İlksen is not alone!"

Lawyer Erkin Tüzün, a founding provincial deputy chair of the YENİ Party in Ankara, also reacted to the arrest. "We are at the courthouse... Our YENİ Party Manisa Founding Provincial Chair İlksen Özalper was arrested by the duty Criminal Court of Peace to which she was brought within the scope of the investigation," Tüzün said. "First, let's state clearly: Arrest is not a conviction. There is no finalized conviction decision yet regarding our President İlksen. Like everyone else, she should benefit from the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial until her guilt is legally established. The duty of us lawyers and politicians is not to declare the accusations against individuals as true or false beforehand; it is to defend the rule of law, the right to a fair trial, and judicial independence. We stand with our President İlksen, her family, and her friends. The law is needed by everyone. Justice, for all of us. We will follow the process until the end."

Previously, Manisa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor's Advisor Demirhan Gözaçan, his driver Anıl Demir, and Şehzadeler A.Ş. General Manager Cem Yüzer were arrested as part of the same investigation. Özalper was taken to Ankara after her procedures at the Manisa Provincial Police Department.