Gökhan Günaydın's reaction to 'espionage': Merdan Yanardağ is an anti-imperialist

An espionage investigation has been launched against CHP presidential candidate and imprisoned Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. Tele1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ was detained as part of the same operation, while an investigation has also been launched against İmamoğlu's campaign director, Necati Özkan.

After the operation, Gökhan Günaydın, appearing on the Sabah Pusulası program hosted by Gökhan Kayış on TELE1, reacted to the operation, saying, "Merdan Yanardağ is an anti-imperialist. With espionage activities and such, one is at a loss for words. Merdan Yanardağ is one of the journalists who has criticized Ekrem İmamoğlu most harshly."

Good morning said:

We all remember how the 2019 elections were won, how the AKP shut down data flow, and how television channels were manipulated. Merdan Yanardağ manipulated all of this. The AKP controls 95% of the media, and TELE1 is so powerful that it can cause anyone it chooses to lose elections. What can I say to anyone who believes all this? There's talk of an app called Istanbul Senin, which shows ferry departure times and requests the transfer of voter information abroad. What happens when this transfer happens? Does it win an election?

It's unbelievable to infer espionage from all of this. Trying to link these two factors together and believing that the AKP's election loss was solely due to espionage is a figment of the imagination. This is not a good trend. The nature and timing of the operation are such that we'd all say, "May God protect this country."

"ONE OF THE HARSHEST CRITICISTS OF IMAMOĞLU"

Continuing his remarks, Gökhan Günaydın also reminded that Merdan Yanardağ was one of the journalists who criticized Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu most harshly at the time.

Source: News Center