The first hearing in the IBB Case, where 414 people, 53 of whom are remanded in custody including the Republican People's Party (CHP) Presidential Candidate and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu are on trial, concluded last Wednesday after 4 months.

The first hearing of the trial, held by the Istanbul 33rd High Criminal Court in the hall opposite the Marmara Closed Penal Execution Institution, which began with disputes on 9th March, ended on 8th July with Ekrem İmamoğlu being removed from the courtroom, once again amidst disputes. During this 4-month period, we penned numerous human rights violations and the struggle for justice in the case. Over this process, hearings were held for a total of 64 days, and 89 defendants took the stand for their defence.

The number of detainees, which started at 407, rose to 414 with new additions to the case. In the interim decisions established, 57 defendants were released. As of today, there are 53 remanded defendants in the case. The second hearing of the trial, whose next monthly detention review will be held on 9th August, is set to commence on 17th August.

16-MINUTE HEARING...

During the initial phase of the trial, some hearings lasted merely 16 minutes. Journalists' struggle to secure a spot was also among the issues that caused the hearing to be adjourned. Following the journalists' relocation from the corner they were crammed into to the lawyers' benches with desks, the detainees' desire to communicate must have unsettled the court panel, as there was an attempt to remove the journalists from there in the early days of the hearings. Objecting to this, the journalists collectively refused to leave their seats, resulting in the adjournment of the trial. In the ensuing days, journalists returned to those very same benches, leaving behind nothing but this dispute and the unwarranted delay of the case. Indeed, this remained an unforgettable issue in the final days of the trial, coupled with the court panel's insistence on 9th July and allowing Ekrem İmamoğlu a mere 10 hours for his defence. The attempt to remove Members of Parliament sitting in the lawyers' benches, the MPs' refusal to comply, the subsequent adjournment of the trial without it being heard at all, and similarly, the trial's adjournment following disputes between the presiding judge and the lawyers, alongside the squeezing of Ekrem İmamoğlu's defence into a 10-hour timeframe, brought the question of 'why' back onto the agenda.

THE STRUGGLE OF JOURNALISM

Meanwhile, journalists continued their struggle to broadcast under difficult conditions and announce what was happening to the public. Travelling hundreds of kilometres back and forth every day for journalism, journalists stayed on their feet during long hearing days on just one sandwich. Despite everything, the solidarity amongst them was the journalists' greatest strength. The sole concern of the journalists—who were occasionally offered pastries brought from home by the spectators as they relayed the court proceedings—was detention and arrest. As a matter of fact, the detention and arrest request I faced just before the final day of the trial proved this concern was not unfounded. Because what unfolded here was being heard thanks to the journalists. Ekrem İmamoğlu's recurring remark, "I am grateful to you. Without you, our voices would not be heard," served as proof of this.

"I WAS EVEN THE ONE WHO BURNT ROME"

One of the most critical aspects of the trial process was that the individuals who gave 'effective remorse' statements—forming one of the cornerstones of the nearly 4,000-page indictment—withdrew these statements and said, 'I did not say such a thing'. One of these individuals was Adem Soytekin. So much so that Adem Soytekin, upon being asked by the prosecutor about the expressions 'structure' and 'system' in his statement to the prosecutor's office dated 17th June 2025, summarised the events by stating, "Those statements do not belong to me; I saw them as a template." Ekrem İmamoğlu's words "it collapsed, it collapsed" followed these testimonies.

While a total of 76 people gave effective remorse statements in the file, 6 individuals retracted these statements once the trial commenced. Another example of these figures was Murat Kapki. In his defence, Kapki stated that he gave his statements under direction. To articulate that he gave his statement under pressure at the prosecutor's office in order to save his family and himself, Kapki used the expressions, "If they had asked me that day, 'Did you burn Rome?', I would have said, 'Yes, I burnt it'." In response to questions posed by detained Beyoğlu Mayor İnan Güney, whose file was merged with the IBB Case, he replied: "Mr İnan, I do not know you anyway. You just appeared out of nowhere. I know absolutely nothing about you. Please forgive me."

THE IBB MARKET

Yet another extremely critical issue of the trial was that some lawyers visiting the detainees in prison were peddling the hope of release by advising the detainees to make effective remorse statements. Many detainees recounted that some lawyers visiting them made suggestions, saying, 'Give an effective remorse statement and get out'. Moreover, Murat Kapki alleged that a former AKP Central Decision and Executive Board member, lawyer Mücahit Birinci, demanded 2 million dollars from him in exchange for his release.

NOT A SINGLE PIECE OF EVIDENCE

Accusations that could not go beyond mere declarations against the remanded individuals, who were accused via an indictment of approximately 4,000 pages, were also dismantled by numerous defences. While the detainees answered all allegations one by one, almost as if making a presentation with the defences they had prepared, the prosecution's failure to present anything that could be termed evidence was frequently brought up. Ekrem İmamoğlu touched upon this issue during the trial: "We are about to finish 4 months. Unfortunately, not a single piece of evidence has been reflected on the screen yet. We are about to finish 4 months without even hearing a question from the prosecution regarding a single piece of evidence."

TEARS FOR EVERYONE

Undoubtedly, what resonated most with the public regarding the case was what the detainees endured during their custody and detention periods. As each detainee whose turn it was for defence recounted their experiences, a flood of emotions swept through the courtroom. The phrase uttered by every detainee was mutual: Why did you make us go through this?

One of the most significant of these statements, which have recently cut like a knife in the public conscience, was undeniably what Fatoş Pınar Türker recounted. Media Inc. General Manager Pınar Türker stated that she was subjected to a strip search at the police station and explained in her defence that she was threatened with her children in exchange for changing her statement. This situation caused everyone in the hall, which constantly experienced an intensity of emotion, to shed tears. Because that emotional burden accumulated in the hall was seeking grounds to erupt, and it was Türker's words that triggered the outpouring of this pent-up emotion. The tears shed by all the families were not, in fact, just for Türker. Because they had also found a piece of themselves in Türker's defence.

Families travelling from hundreds of kilometres away every day struggled to catch a slightly longer glimpse of their loved ones by sitting in the spots that had become synonymous with them. The sole desire of the families, who waged this struggle tirelessly for 4 months, was justice. Just like 84-year-old Gülseren Çalık, the mother of the detained Beylikdüzü Mayor Mehmet Murat Çalık. I immortalised this situation with a photograph. In fact, this was exactly what was happening. The families in the spectator seats and the detainees in the dock wanted just one thing: Justice!

The first hearing of the IBB Case, which spanned 4 months, concluded with precisely this call. The removal of Ekrem İmamoğlu from the courtroom on the final day and the recording of "exercised his right to remain silent" in the minutes only served to further amplify this struggle and call for justice.

Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Bize bunu neden yaşattınız?, published in BirGün newspaper on July 13, 2026.