A decision to continue detention has been issued for 5 CHP mayors
İstanbul 1st High Criminal Court decided to continue the detention of 33 people including CHP mayors in the “Aziz İhsan Aktaş criminal organisation” case. The court repeated its pre-hearing reasoning that “evidence has not been collected and there is a risk of flight”. Meanwhile, Ceyhan Mayor Kadir Aydar’s father Mustafa Aydar was released due to health problems.
In the latest detention review ahead of the first hearing on 27 January in the “Aziz İhsan Aktaş criminal organisation” case, CHP mayors Zeydan Karalar, Utku Caner Çaykara, Oya Tekin, Kadir Aydar and Rıza Akpolat were ordered to remain in detention on the grounds that “evidence has not been collected and there is a risk of flight”.
İstanbul 1st High Criminal Court held a detention review before the trial opened under the indictment on the “Aziz İhsan Aktaş criminal organisation” involving CHP mayors.
The court decided to continue the detention of 33 detainees including Adana Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Zeydan Karalar, Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara, Seyhan Mayor Oya Tekin, Ceyhan Mayor Kadir Aydar and Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat.
Meanwhile, Mustafa Aydar, the father of Ceyhan Mayor Kadir Aydar who was detained within the scope of the investigation, was released due to health problems.
“EVIDENCE HAS NOT BEEN COLLECTED, THERE IS A RISK OF FLIGHT”
According to journalist Furkan Karabay’s reporting, in its review on 7 January İstanbul 1st High Criminal Court decided to continue the detention of the detainees including CHP mayors who have been held for nearly a year, citing “risk of flight”.
In its latest detention review ahead of the first hearing on 27 January, the court justified continuing detention with the claim that “at this stage the evidence has not yet been fully collected”.
THE AZİZ İHSAN AKTAŞ CASE
İstanbul 1st High Criminal Court had accepted the 578-page indictment known publicly as the “Aziz İhsan Aktaş indictment”.
In the indictment prepared last month by the Organised Crimes Bureau of the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, 19 people were listed as victims while the number of suspects reached 200.
Suspects include Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat, Adana Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Zeydan Karalar and Adıyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere. Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer, Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara, Ceyhan Mayor Kadir Aydar and Seyhan Mayor Oya Tekin are also among them.
The prosecution sought a total prison sentence for Aziz İhsan Aktaş of between 270 and 704 years for nine different offences. The charges against Aktaş include “establishing an organisation for the purpose of committing a crime”, “rigging a tender” and “rigging performance of contractual obligations”. The indictment also includes “forgery of an official document”, “forgery of a private document” and “fraud to the detriment of public institutions and organisations”.
Accusations of “giving a bribe”, “laundering proceeds of crime” and “issuing false invoices” were also directed at Aktaş.
UP TO 415 YEARS IN PRISON WAS SOUGHT FOR RIZA AKPOLAT
A prison sentence of up to 415 years was sought for Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat who was suspended from office. The prosecution sought up to 18 years for Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara and up to 9 years for Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer.
Up to 12 years each was sought for Adana Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Zeydan Karalar, Adıyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere, Seyhan Mayor Oya Tekin and Ceyhan Mayor Kadir Aydar.
A total of 13 offences were attributed to the suspects in the indictment. These include “establishing and leading an organisation for the purpose of committing a crime”, “membership of a criminal organisation” and “aiding the organisation without being a member”. The offences of “taking a bribe”, “giving a bribe” and “mediating the provision of a bribe” were also included in the indictment.
The indictment stated that Aktaş initially won tenders in cities such as Diyarbakır, Adana and Adıyaman. It was alleged that after Ekrem İmamoğlu was elected Mayor of İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality he saw the change in administration as an opportunity and shifted his focus to İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality and district municipalities.
It was claimed that from 2020 onwards Aktaş won tenders at İETT, İSFALT and İGDAŞ and that by also winning tenders in Beşiktaş Municipality, Avcılar Municipality and Esenyurt Municipality he led the organisation into its “golden age”.
İstanbul 1st High Criminal Court set 27 January as the date of the first hearing. It drew attention that Aktaş, who was accused of being the “leader of a criminal organisation” and was released after turning state witness, did not have the tenders he received from AKP municipalities questioned.
Who is Aziz İhsan Aktaş and what are his companies?
Among the companies at the centre of the accusations, Bilginay was founded in Antalya in 2007. From 2014 the company came under the management of Diyarbakır businessman Aziz İhsan Aktaş and people with the same surname, Ramazan Aktaş and Özkan Aktaş.
After Bilginay moved its headquarters to Ankara in 2015, it was seen that people with the surname Aktaş also began to take management roles. Most recently, in June 2024 the company carried out a capital increase of 750 million lira.
Bilginay is a company that has received large tenders from many state institutions. Bilginay operates in maintenance and repair, vehicle rental, logistics and staffing supply and the institutions it has worked with have also drawn attention.
Institutions Bilginay has provided services to include Elektrik Üretimi Anonim Şirketi (EÜAŞ), Tütün ve Alkol Dairesi Başkanlığı (TAPDK), Devlet Hava Meydanları İşletmesi Genel Müdürlüğü (DHMİ), the Court of Cassation (Yargıtay), the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) and many public hospitals.
Bilginay also won many tenders from İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality and provided services to İGDAŞ and İETT. Municipalities where Bilginay won tenders and provided services include İstanbul Beşiktaş, Mersin Silifke, Urfa Karaköprü, Mersin Akdeniz, Adana Metropolitan Municipality, Trabzon Metropolitan Municipality, İzmir Bornova, Urfa Haliliye, Isparta, Aydın Metropolitan Municipality, İzmit, Adıyaman, Yozgat and Erzurum Yakutiye.
He worked with AKP municipalities too
Among the companies subject to the accusations, İçkale was founded in Diyarbakır in 2015 with Bilginay as a partner. Two years later the company moved its headquarters to Ankara. The İçkale company owned by Doğan Aktaş set its headquarters as İstanbul in 2019.
It was seen that the company, which operates in fuel, logistics and construction, worked with many AKP and CHP municipalities.
Municipalities that İçkale worked with and won tenders from include Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, Kütahya, Küçükçekmece, Balıkesir, Beşiktaş, Esenyurt, Çerkezköy and Bağlar. İçkale also provided services to state institutions such as Elektrik Üretim A.Ş. and to the Kıbrıs Turkish Electricity Authority.
It is known that İçkale won the tender for the construction of a cemevi and a high school campus from Esenyurt Municipality which is part of the investigation. İçkale won the tender for the high school campus on a 25-decare plot for 1 billion lira on 2 May 2023.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled CHP'li 5 belediye başkanı hakkında tutukluluğa devam kararı verildi, published in BirGün newspaper on January 9, 2026.
