‘İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality pays some journalists every month,' claims Soylu

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA) / File

Click to read the article in Turkish

Turkey's Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu attended a live TV program on pro-government A Haber last evening (January 12) and made some new allegations concerning the Ministry's special inquiry against the main opposition-led İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İMM).

Standing behind the decision to launch an investigation against the Municipality, Soylu said, "The DİAYDER [Religious Scholars Solidarity Association] put the members of the organization in a job at the İMM. The DİAYDER is affiliated with the YPS/ PKK [Civil Protection Units/ Kurdistan Workers' Party]. We are in a state of alert against the YPS, the urban organization of the PKK. 183 terrorist acts were prevented in 2021."

Soylu further argued that "it was not possible for the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality to not know these personnel's history."

İMM Spokesperson Murat Ongun has responded to Soylu's allegations on social media, saying, "I hope that he will prove them this time."

Murat Ongun has briefly said on Twitter: "Mr. Minister talked assertively about the canceled March 31, 2019 election as well and said, 'This is so serious.' Even a single person was not penalized in the end. Tonight, Mr. Minister once again made 'serious' allegations on A Haber. I hope that he will prove them this time. You can decide by watching the video."

New allegations of Soylu

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu alleged that the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, currently run by Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), gives monthly wages to some journalists and the amount of these wages ranges from 15 to 30 thousand lira. "Giving wages to some journalists won't prove you right," he said.

Soylu also said that the investigation in question is not solely the case for CHP municipalities, noting that the Ministry has been conducting 2,032 investigations against several municipalities. "Affiliation or contact with terror is enough for discharge from public service," he said.

According to Soylu, the number of special inquiries against municipalities, including the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, is 166. In 2019, 40 special inquiries were conducted against the municipalities of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) while this number was three in 2020 and six in 2021, said Soylu, sharing the following information:

"In 2020, special inquiries were carried out against 4 CHP municipalities and in 2019, they were carried out against 25 CHP municipalities.

"Throughout 2020, I was subjected to a special inquiry. I conducted a special inquiry against my own units."

About the investigation against the İMM

During the 2022 budget talks at the Parliament on December 12, 2021, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu alleged that after Ekrem İmamoğlu was elected the Mayor of İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İMM), some of the personnel hired by the İMM had links with terrorist organizations.

Saying that nearly 33 thousand people were hired by the İMM, Soylu claimed, "Of these 33 thousand people, only 12 thousand were examined. 455 of them had records of PKK and KCK [Kurdistan Communities Union]. 80 had records of DHKP-C [Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front], 20 of MLKP [Marxist Leninist Communist Party], 2 of MKP [Maoist Communist Party] and I can send the records of others as well."

İstanbul Mayor İmamoğlu said that they, as the İMM, wrote to the Interior Ministry and requested information in response to these allegations, but they could not receive any answer: "The Minister has detected these and is just sitting there, telling the press about it smiling. Are these people working at the İMM now? The Minister of Interior should resign from office now."

On December 26, 2021, the Ministry of Interior announced that a special inquiry was launched against the İMM "upon tip-offs and findings suggesting that hundreds of personnel working at the İMM had affiliations or contact with terrorist organizations." (TP/SD)