Turkey’s main opposition leader has accused the finance minister and the financial crimes watchdog of fabricating evidence to justify the arrest of the mayor of İstanbul, in what he called a politically motivated operation, the Euronews Turkish edition reported on Tuesday.
Speaking during a party meeting in İstanbul on Tuesday, Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel alleged that a recent report from the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), an agency under the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, was “deliberately written” to incriminate İmamoğlu. Özel said the report lacked credibility and was part of a broader effort by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to remove political rivals through legal manipulation.
“[Finance Minister] Mehmet Şimşek, you are not outside this coup. You are one of its tools,” Özel said, referring to the Sunday arrest of İmamoğlu on corruption charges, which followed his March 19 detention. “That MASAK report — which was supposedly requested 10 days earlier but delivered just two days before the arrest — is a disgrace. It is a lie used to justify a political move,” he said.
İmamoğlu, widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest political rival, was detained shortly after a court ordered the annulment of his university diploma. Days later, prosecutors detained him as part of a sweeping investigation into alleged financial crimes involving 106 individuals. His family’s construction company, İmamoğlu İnşaat, was also seized.
Authorities claim the company was used in illegal financial transactions, based on findings from the MASAK report.
Just today, prosecutors also ordered the seizure of three construction companies — İSCON İnşaat, Nuhoğlu İnşaat and Trend İnşaat — linked to individuals detained along with İmamoğlu.
Legal experts have questioned the legitimacy of the MASAK document.
Lawyer Ali Yıldız said MASAK reports are often treated as not subject to questioning in Turkish courts, despite their lack of transparency and accountability.
“We’ve seen hundreds of MASAK reports. They are no more credible than secret witnesses,” Yıldız wrote on X.
“The author of the report is anonymous, and you can’t challenge it like you would a court expert, because you don’t know who wrote it. Is the author competent? A party loyalist? Do they have a personal grudge? We don’t know.”
Journalist Bahadır Özgür also described the MASAK report targeting İmamoğlu and his associates as the weakest he has seen. “If we didn’t know the government’s motives, we might think they wrote it this way on purpose so the case would collapse,” he said.
Özel warned that Şimşek’s role in the affair would damage his international reputation. “If anyone thinks Şimşek is a respected economist, let the world know this: He allowed his agency to be used in a lie. He has no credibility left — not as an economist, not as a person,” he said.
Şimşek, a former Merryl Lynch economist, was appointed by Erdoğan in 2023 to regain investor confidence after years of unorthodox economic policies.
In his remarks on Tuesday, Özel criticized the government’s economic policies, pointing to low wage increases that failed to keep pace with inflation. He said the government stockpiled foreign reserves while offering pensioners and workers real wage cuts.
According to Özel, the central bank burned through $26 billion of its reserves in three days to support the lira after İmamoğlu’s arrest triggered mass protests and economic instability.
Thousands have taken to the streets since the arrest, marking the largest wave of demonstrations in Turkey in over a decade. Police have used tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds, with more than 1,100 people detained, including at least 10 journalists. Social media platform X has blocked hundreds of accounts following a government request.
The CHP declared İmamoğlu its candidate for the 2028 presidential election just hours after his arrest, sparking further backlash. His detention came amid speculation that Erdoğan sought to block his candidacy through legal channels. The Turkish president previously warned of further investigations into İmamoğlu.
Critics say the government is using legal tools like MASAK to wage a coordinated campaign against the opposition, drawing parallels to earlier crackdowns following a failed coup in 2016. After the coup, the government seized hundreds of businesses and jailed thousands over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, which it labels as a terrorist group. The movement strongly denies any involvement in the coup attempt or terrorist activities, and rights groups have called these seizures a form of politically motivated confiscation.
A 2023 report by the Brussels-based instituDE said the Turkish government’s confiscation of Gülen-linked assets — valued at roughly $50 billion — amounted to “crimes against humanity.” Many observers now fear a similar playbook is being used against secular opposition figures like İmamoğlu.
The CHP leader said the recent events show that the government is willing to sacrifice the rule of law, economic stability and international credibility to prevent a fair election.