Two hotel managers were detained today in connection with a corruption investigation involving suspended İstanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. The detentions relate to the covering of security cameras ahead of a meeting İmamoğlu held at Le Méridien Hotel in Beşiktaş, İstanbul on Oct 12.
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that hotel manager Sinan Udil and security chief Osman Gündüz Bora Oğurlu were detained on charges of “destroying, concealing or altering evidence.”
The corruption investigation into İmamoğlu, who was arrested and suspended from office last month, expanded last week, with 52 people taken into custody on Apr 26. Among them, 18 were formally arrested today, in addition to 48 already behaind bars. Cevat Kaya, brother of Ekrem İmamoğlu's spouse Dilek İmamoğlu, is among the arrested.
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The actions of İmamoğlu’s security detail, including masking cameras and carrying suitcases at the hotel, have drawn attention, with pro-government media portraying them as signs of potential misconduct. İmamoğlu is also alleged to have held 46 meetings at the same hotel over a six-month period.
During questioning, a member of İmamoğlu’s security team, Çağlar Türkmen, admitted to taping over the cameras.
“Because of previous leaks of Ekrem İmamoğlu’s images from a restaurant to the press, later camera footage from places he would visit would be covered with tape to block the view,” Türkmen told police. “This decision was taken by the protection team.”
He added that the team carried jammers in their luggage as part of their routine security procedures.
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İmamoğlu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) also defended the measures as standard security protocols. "Whatever need the president has for using jammers, our presidential candidate has the same need," party leader Özgür Özel told journalist Fatih Altaylı during an interview on his YouTube channel. İmamoğlu was declared the CHP's presidential candidate after a primary held on Mar 23.
Özel also said that police assigned to protect politicians routinely carry tape and cover cameras.
After Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya rejected these claims in an interview with daily Hürriyet published on Apr 28, Özel responded by claiming that "all the police officers assigned to protect statesmen in Ankara are laughing at you."
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Yerlikaya issued another statement later in the day on social media, where he said, “Our protection officers are not assigned to cover cameras with tape. None of them, including those protecting you, carry tape in their pockets.” He also accused the opposition leader of "slander."
In a separate statement, the General Directorate of Security said 5,263 officers currently serve in personal protection roles and their training curriculum does not include any instruction on camera masking using tape.
The directorate also emphasized that mayors are not authorized to use jammers and that unauthorized use constitutes a criminal offense. No units within the directorate provide training on jammer use for personal security teams, it said. (VK)
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