Following the judicial coup against the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) on 19 March, the one-man regime, which has taken its pressure to a new level, shows no sign of slowing down. The latest target of the ruling party’s operations to suppress the opposition through trustees, arrests and investigations was the ‘espionage’ investigation opened against İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Necati Özkan and Merdan Yanardağ. Yanardağ was detained as part of this investigation. On the same day, in another investigation, 15 İBB employees were ordered to be detained, and 13 of them were detained. A trustee was appointed to TELE 1 TV yesterday evening.
More than 200 days have passed since the 19 March operation. The number of investigations opened reveals the extent to which the crackdown has intensified. According to UYAP data, between that day and 24 October, exactly 3,446,872 new investigations were opened. The total number of investigations opened during the year rose from 1,290,342 on 19 March to 4,737,214. The daily number of investigations exceeded 15,000.
Similar data emerged for cases filed in criminal courts. The number of cases, which was 1,109,028 as of 19 March, rose to 3,891,229 as of 24 October. The difference, i.e. the number of cases filed after 19 March, was 2,782,201.
FORECLOSURES SKYROCKETED TOO
At the same time, economic data has also deteriorated since that day. The number of foreclosure and bankruptcy cases in enforcement offices in 2025, which was 2,288,010 as of 19 March, rose to 8,503,872 as of 24 October. The total number of enforcement and bankruptcy cases rose from 22,836,443 to 24,770,877.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Her sabah yeni operasyon: 19 Mart’tan sonra yüz binlerce soruşturma, published in BirGün newspaper on October 25, 2025.
