Construction company Imamoglu Insaat has been seized via a court order issued at the request of the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office, the chief prosecutor’s office said on March 19.

The enterprise in question is owned by the family of Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and chief rival to Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Imamoglu was detained on the same day that the firm was taken over by court order based on presented financial crime investigation papers. Ekrem Imamoglu has a stake in the company, which develops residential projects in the Beylikduzu district of Istanbul. Imamoglu served as mayor of Beylikduzu before he became mayor of Istanbul in 2019.

Together with Imamoglu, a total of 87 people have been detained. The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) mayors of the Sisli and Beylikduzu districts are among them.

So far, the trio of detained mayors remain in post. They have yet to be dismissed.

Additionally, Ali Nuhoglu, owner of Nuhoglu Insaat and Nuhoglu Holding, was detained. So far, no information has been released as regards any moves made in relation to his companies.

What is Imamoglu Insaat accused of?

On March 19, bne Intellinews noted: “For those who’ve never tried to get to grips with Turkey till now, let’s perhaps confirm we’re talking about the country, not the bird, and stress that the detention of the mayor has nothing to do with the law.”

This publication has also been parroting for a long while: “Each time there is a notable arrest, or the seizure of a municipality or sizeable company, the media circulate some reasoning put out by officials, but in the final analysis, all such moves are quite obviously political and can be directly laid at Erdogan’s door.”

On March 14, bne IntelliNews also noted: “In 2024, Akin Gurlek was appointed as chief public prosecutor in Istanbul. Journalists, who claim that Gurlek’s job is to conduct operations against Imamoglu, currently seen as a politician that could one day succeed Erdogan, are arrested.”

Business as usual

Since 2002, Turkey’s government has used the deposit insurance fund TMSF as a tool for wealth transfer.

As of March 12, TMSF had established management over 721 companies. Additionally, it controlled stakes in 73 companies as well as the personal assets of 93 real persons as of end-2024.

Three of the companies are currently on sale.

In July 2024, Fatin Rustu Karakas, head of the TMSF, said that TMSF had seized 1,371 companies over links to the Gulenist clan since their military coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

In 2024, TMSF sold a Bosphorus mansion owned by Gulenist businessman Akin Ipek to Oyak Cimento (OYAKC) for a consideration of TRY 1.1bn ($34mn).

The “Imamoglu wave”

In February, Turkey’s deposit insurance fund TMSF was appointed as a trustee at fast food chain Maydanoz Doner in relation to a prosecution aimed at Gulenists.

On March 14, the Istanbul chief public prosecutor's office seized a total 23 companies owned by Erkan Kork as part of a prosecution aimed at illegal sports betting.

Bankpozitif, a lender, and TV channel Flash TV along with fintech companies Payfix, Aypara (iPara) and Ininal are among the seized companies.

With the seizure of Kork’s companies, it became clear that a new wave of company seizures by the state, which began with Maydonoz Doner, was under way.

With the seizure of Imamoglu’s company, it became understood that what we have here is the “Imamoglu wave” and that the previous company seizures were aimed at preparing the public for the Imamoglu move.

Those with little grasp of Turkey might think that it is a conspiracy theory to connect Maydanoz Doner to Imamoglu Insaat. They might want to pick the brains of some of the people who watched the unfolding of the Ergenekon (extended as Sledgehammer, Ayisigi and so on) and the Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation (FETO) operations to get some understanding of things.

This trail leads back to the Gulenists who first staged the Ergenekon operation that targeted Turkey’s military tutelage regime between 2007 and 2011.

Later on, Erdogan, and the late Fethullah Gulen, head of the Gulenists, fell out. And Erdogan went on to use the scheme against the Gulenists.

The big difference was that the Gulenists were entirely professional (for instance, they planted ‘evidence’ in computers of targeted people), while the ‘leftovers’ within the Turkish state that were employed by Erdogan against the Gulenists did not have the professionalism to attend properly to window dressing.

Such a scheme is currently being applied (by the same personnel) against Imamoglu. The idea of an “Imamoglu Suc Orgutu”, or “Imamoglu Criminal Gang” has been put into circulation.

Seizing of municipalities

Since the last local elections, held in March 2024, 12 municipalities have been seized by the government. Ten were held by the main Kurdish party DEM, while two were held by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

(See the full list here.)

The government has also arrested the CHP mayors of Besiktas and Beykoz districts in Istanbul. However, in relation to the arrests, it did not seize the municipalities concerned.

The district parliament in Besiktas elected a new mayor in line with Turkish laws. The Beykoz mayor was dismissed on March 4, but the interior ministry has not appointed a trustee. It looks like the Besiktas model will be followed there.

In the new local government cycle, it is the seizing of CHP municipalities that has emerged as a new phenomenon.

Since January, bne IntelliNews has reiterated like clockwork that the real target in all of this is Imamoglu. And since February, this publication has been posing the question: “Will Erdogan jail Imamoglu?”