Operation against TELE1! Merdan Yanardağ detained

Gökhan Kayış, host of the program Sabah Pusulası on TELE1, announced the operation live on TELE1 TV. He stated that TEM teams arrived at the station early this morning and conducted a search.

Gökhan Kayış announced that a court-ordered search was carried out at the home and office of TELE1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ, and that the search lasted approximately one hour.

KAYIŞ: HE SAID YOU CANNOT REACH ME

According to Kayış, there's a 50-person TEM team at the station. Kayış said he asked the officer in charge of the 50-person team, "Does Yanardağ know about it?" The officer replied, "You can't reach me," and that Yanardağ may have been taken into custody.

MERDAN YANARDAĞ IS IN CUSTODY

In a statement regarding the operation, the prosecutor's office announced that TELE1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ was detained in the morning hours.

STATEMENT FROM MERDAN YANARDAĞ'S LAWYER

Bilgütay Hakkı Durna, the lawyer for TELE1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ, made a statement to TELE1 about the incident. Durna said the following:

We haven't yet seen the legal files or documents. I've accessed the prosecutor's office's press release. Unfortunately, in our country, they make grandiose allegations against people, but they go unsubstantiated, and people are deprived of their freedom. I will go to the police department and try to access the file. It's impossible to question Merdan Yanardağ's patriotic identity. In our country, people are trying to prove he committed a crime.

After the search concluded, I spoke with his family. After all, his family, like Mr. Merdan's, is a strong-willed family, so there was no surprise. Ultimately, this possibility exists thanks to Mr. Merdan's work. Their morale is high and we will move forward with the process together.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office made the following statement about the operation:

Within the scope of the investigation carried out by the Terrorist Crimes Investigation Bureau of our Chief Public Prosecutor's Office;

When the digital materials (encrypted phone and handwritten documents) belonging to the suspect Hüseyin GÜN, who was arrested on 04/07/2025 for espionage and was found to have engaged in espionage activities on behalf of foreign countries, conducted his conversations through encrypted phones in order to maintain privacy, and financed internal unrest taking place in different countries, were examined; photographs of military ammunition and weapons that it would not be possible for civilians or companies to obtain, and passport photographs of Israeli citizens understood to be active in the military or political sphere in the Country of Israel, communication contacts via GSM lines of individuals against whom legal proceedings have been initiated within the scope of the FETÖ/PDY Armed Terrorist Organization and, in addition to these individuals, individuals against whom legal proceedings have been initiated within the scope of the PKK/KCK Armed Terrorist Organization, were found, and many communication contacts with consulate officials of different countries were identified.

Again, as a result of the MASAK investigation about the suspect; it was determined that although he did not currently have any commercial enterprise, there were large amounts of domestic and international money transfers, 85 (eighty-five) million Turkish Liras were withdrawn in cash from his accounts and no purchase-sale record was found regarding the use of this amount.

As a result of the examination of the handwritten notebooks and documents, it was determined that the documents belonging to the suspect included mentions of matters related to the Coup Attempt/Civil Unrest events that took place in different countries. It was determined that he took daily notes of the individuals or institutions he met with throughout our country, that he transferred information on national issues to intelligence officers or individuals engaged in political activities who were understood to be operating in favor of a foreign country. It was also determined that he had a face-to-face meeting with a person named Mustafa ÖZCAN, who is described as the imam of England and is in the senior management staff of the FETÖ/PDY Armed Terrorist Organization, and that he received suggestions from this person. It was also determined that he transferred the information he collected on issues related to the Middle Eastern Countries, African Countries and our Country to individuals from a foreign country who were determined to be engaged in intelligence activities.

It has been understood that the suspect, Hüseyin GÜN, has been operating in our country and other countries in line with the interests of other countries by showing his commercial identity in the foreground.

When the suspect's contacts were examined, it was found that he had contacts with many foreign intelligence officers. It is striking that in the correspondence he made with a foreign intelligence officer over the "Wickr" program, which is a highly confidential cryptographic communication program that cannot be accessed from the outside, similar to the ByLock Talk and Chat program used by members of FETO, the foreign intelligence officer sent the suspect a photo taken from afar and secretly of a group, including two ministers who had previously served in our country.

Again, it was detected that the suspect had conversations with the person named Necati ÖZKAN, one of the leaders of Ekrem İmamoğlu's profit-oriented criminal organization, through the same cryptographic communication program, in a manner that instructed Necati Özkan, in summary, "digital intelligence gathering, matters to be considered in the work carried out for İmamoğlu, the urgent activation of 70,000 volunteers, Murat Ongun's cell phone was infected with spyware that could allow remote access listening, and therefore it was very important for Murat not to take his phone to sensitive private campaign meetings with Mr. Ekrem." The suspect Hüseyin Gün was operating as a manager within the criminal organization, hierarchically above the suspect Necati Özkan, one of the leaders of Ekrem İmamoğlu's profit-oriented criminal organization.

It has been understood that the main purpose of the Ekrem İMAMOĞLU criminal organization is to generate funds for the Presidential candidacy of the organization leader Ekrem İMAMOĞLU by gaining material benefit, that the suspect Hüseyin GÜN, one of the leaders of the Criminal Organization, and the suspect Necati ÖZKAN cooperated with the suspect in the 2019 Local Election Campaign in line with this aim of the organization and especially by leaking confidential information about the voters, that they took action in line with this aim, that they created voter profiles and determined strategies by analyzing the electoral districts, that the information about the voters was shared with foreign intelligence services while carrying out this work and that the action was within the scope of espionage activities, and that the suspect Hüseyin Gün had contact and common meetings with Ekrem İmamoğlu, one of the other suspects who is the founder of the criminal organization.

According to the evidence obtained within the scope of the investigation, it was determined that the media member suspect Merdan YANARDAĞ had numerous contacts and correspondences regarding espionage activities with the suspect Hüseyin GÜN, one of the managers of Ekrem İmamoğlu's profit-oriented Crime Organization, and as confirmed by the witness statement, the suspect Merdan YANARDAĞ organized the press leg of the election process by obtaining benefits from the suspect Hüseyin GÜN and was involved in activities to manipulate the elections in cooperation with foreign intelligence services in the 2019 local elections, and thus committed the crime of Espionage.

In line with the issues explained above;

Within the scope of this investigation, a warrant was written for the suspects Ekrem İMAMOĞLU and Necati ÖZKAN*, who are arrested for another crime, to be interrogated for espionage crimes, from the Penitentiary Institution where they are held, and to be made available to our Office of the Chief Public Prosecutor.

*Suspect Merdan YANARDAĞ* was caught and detained today on the charge of Espionage, and a search was conducted at the suspect's residence and workplace.

*Suspect Hüseyin GÜN*, who was previously arrested on 04/07/2025 for the crime of Espionage within the scope of the investigation, will be taken from the Penitentiary Institution by the decision of the Criminal Judge of Peace and handed over to the Istanbul Police Department in order to be interrogated for the crime of Being the Leader of a Criminal Organization, which is attributed to him according to the new evidence obtained and to be processed.

The investigation will be continued with determination and expansion by our Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in cooperation with our National Intelligence Organization and the Istanbul Police Department.

Respectfully announced to the public. 24.10.2025

*ISTANBUL CHIEF PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE*

Source: News Center