Municipal council members file criminal complaint against Istanbul Mayor over Gülen links

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

Two main opposition party members on Sept. 21 filed a criminal complaint against Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş, accusing him of misconduct in a way that would benefit and aid the Gülenist network through his position. 

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality council Republican People’s Party (CHP) members Hüseyin Sağ and Süleyman Nadir Ataman filed a criminal complaint against Topbaş, saying, “If plan changes that were not approved were not passed by the council, the organization [Gülenists] would not have reached the power it has today and it would not be able recruit for itself.” 

The council members said their allegations were evident when one looked at seized properties, as they are all subjected to “special plan changes.” 

“The organization has maintained its existence through the education, health, dormitory and private social and cultural centers it established by the legends it acquired through the changes in the plans,” said Sağ and Ataman.  

The two members also showed as evidence some schools in the Üsküdar, Silivri and Bahçelievler districts of Istanbul that were seized as part of the probes into the Gülenist network and mentioned projects of the Aydınlı Group, whose arrested executive chief, Ömer Faruk Kavurmacı, is Topbaş’s son-in-law. Kavurmacı was arrested over Gülenist links. 

In the filing, Sağ and Ataman also included arrested civil engineers and their firms’ projects, as well as media reports, municipal council records and deed records as evidences of the charges against Topbaş. 

In their accusation, the members also urged unbiased experts to examine the municipality’s archives dating back to 2004 and demanded prosecution against Topbaş on six counts.