Following the deputy mayor election held in Üsküdar Municipality, NEW Party Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik brought up the remarkable allegations in his press statement and claimed that council member Ayhan Aydın said, "The prosecutor threatened me, I have a disabled son, I have a disabled wife, who will take care of them? They threatened me, I surrendered to them" and hung up the phone crying.
An investigation was launched by the prosecutor's office following Çelik's allegations that were made public. Aydın, who was called to testify within the scope of the investigation, denied the statements that he was threatened by the prosecutor. It was stated that Aydın claimed that he was called at the request of Özgür Çelik before the election and that they were trying to put him under pressure.
However, the Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation against YENİ Party Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik and District Chairman Berk Tütüncü upon the complaints of three members of the Üsküdar Municipal Council.
After all this, Özgür Çelik filed a criminal complaint regarding the events in the Üsküdar election on behalf of the NEW Party Istanbul Presidency.
The petition in question included 6 names who were claimed to have been subjected to pressure and the evidence was listed.
The relevant parts of the petition are as follows:
"1.After the deputy mayor election process in Üsküdar Municipality, statements were made to the public by the NEW Party Istanbul Provincial Chairman, Mr. Özgür Çelik, in front of Üsküdar Municipality on September 8, 2026. In these statements, serious allegations were made that the political will of the municipal council members was suppressed by various methods, some council members were threatened and some council members were exposed to various promises and benefits in return for changing their political attitudes. In the statements reflected in the press, especially the municipal council named Ayhan Aydın He stated that the member was threatened with arrest by a prosecutor in a telephone conversation with another council member in the presence of Yeni Party Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik and Yeni Party Istanbul Deputy Suat ÖZÇAĞDAŞ, and that he was therefore forced to make a political choice under pressure. Although it was announced to the public that an ex officio investigation was initiated by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and Ayhan Aydın was summoned to the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to testify on the matter. Even though the incident started, the issue should not be viewed through a single statement. As we explain below, the events we complain about are not limited to this. Therefore, the investigation should be deepened and evaluations should be made for other relevant persons.
The main reason why we, as the NEW Party Istanbul Provincial Directorate, filed this criminal complaint is that the events are not just an issue that concerns individual municipal council members. In case the political will of elected municipal council members is changed by threats, pressure, force or other unlawful methods; The political activities of the NEW Party, the political representation of the NEW Party in Üsküdar, the political will of the NEW Party voters and the balance of the municipal council resulting from the democratic election are directly affected. Therefore, it is imperative to further investigate whether there was any interference in the political activities of the NEW Party.
ALLEGATIONS OF INTERVENTION IN THE POLITICAL WILL OF COUNCIL MEMBERS
In public statements, it has been claimed that some municipal council members were subjected to various pressures before switching parties or changing their political attitudes.
Especially;
* Ayhan Aydin,
* Ahmet Başbaydar,
* Hüseyin Kazan
*Tahsin USTA
*Tahsin EPLİ
* Onur BAYAV
* It is necessary to thoroughly investigate the conditions under which the party changes of * and other relevant council members took place. Our demand is to reveal whether these political choices were made with free will or as a result of threats, pressure, judicial process, money, interest or any other unlawful intervention. Üsküdar Municipal Council member Ayhan Aydın stated that he was threatened with arrest by a prosecutor in a telephone conversation with another council member in the presence of YENİ Party Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik and YENİ Party Istanbul Deputy Suat Özçağdaş, and that he had to bow to the pressure, citing his family's situation. In addition, Ayhan AYDIN talked to Özgür Çelik on the phone of another party member, and in that conversation he said, "They threatened me with arrest, who will take care of my disabled wife and child if I am arrested?"
This phone call took place in the presence of Üsküdar Mayor Sinem Dedetaş's wife, Barış Dedetaş, and some party members. These people are also witnesses of the relevant phone call. It should be investigated who or by whom the threat in question was carried out. Üsküdar Municipal Council member Ahmet Başbaydar took part in the 3rd and 4th rounds of the Üsküdar Deputy Mayor election held on 5 August 2026. During the period between the tour, in the parliamentary group room where all the parliament members and party members were present, he said, "My son was punished for membership in an organization. He cannot return to Turkey from England. I was promised by the ministry to remove the obstacles to his return to Turkey. That's why I voted for AKP and my vote will be in this direction again."
2 days before the last Üsküdar Municipality Deputy Mayor election on September 8, 2026, the owner of the workplace where Üsküdar Municipality Onur Bayav worked was summoned and threatened by the prosecutor's office, and therefore the allegations that Onur Bayav changed his political preference in the last vote are talked about by many people in the public. Additionally, there are serious allegations in the public opinion that Onur Bayav himself was invited to the prosecutor's office the day before the election. The reality of this situation must be investigated and clarified.
Allegations that Tahsin Usta, Tahsin Epli and other municipal council members mentioned above provided financial benefits and various promises were made to them in return for changing their political preferences were also reflected in the public.
Whether these issues are true or not should be investigated objectively.
In this context;
*whether any monetary payment has been made,
* whether any financial benefit is provided,
* whether a job, assignment, tender or other economic advantage is promised,
* Whether or not benefits are provided through family members or relatives,
*determination of which political party representatives and public officials the mentioned council members met with during this process, taking into account the hts-base records,
* It should be investigated whether political support is requested in exchange for the removal/facilitation of any judicial or administrative procedure.
In case the necessary legal conditions are met, examining the relevant financial and digital records is also important in revealing the material truth.
The issues mentioned above are extremely serious.
In addition, what is the purpose of inviting the Deputy Chairman of the Üsküdar Municipal Council, who manages the elections in the Assembly, to the Istanbul Anatolian Courthouse by indoctrinating him to attend the deposition without a lawyer? Clarification of these issues is mandatory not only for the protection of parliament members who change their political parties or political preferences in the vote, but also for the protection of the political activities of all political parties, the will of the voters reflected in the ballot box and democratic representation.
INVESTIGATION IN TERMS OF BLOCKINGS OF POLITICAL RIGHTS
Article 114 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237 contains regulations regarding the prevention of the exercise of political rights. In terms of concrete events, the following issue needs to be investigated in particular: Has the political will of the elected municipal council members been changed by threats or any other unlawful behavior?
If the answer to this question is positive, we will be talking about not only an individual threat action but also an intervention in the political representation mechanism.
PROTECTION OF VOTER WILL
Municipal council members are appointed through elections. If these people are forced to make political choices beyond their free will after the election, or if their political attitudes are changed due to threats/interest relationships, the will of the voters revealed at the ballot box will also be affected. For this reason, the incident; It should be investigated not within the narrow framework of "a few council members changing parties", but within the framework of "whether the political representation resulting from the election was changed by unlawful methods".
THE SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION SHOULD BE EXPANDED
We are aware of the existence of an investigation initiated ex officio by your Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. However, we believe that the current investigation should not be limited to the allegation that Ayhan Aydın was "threatened by the prosecutor".
The incident should be investigated in terms of other municipal council members and all its connections, and the legal process should be completed in this way.
In this context;
1. In addition to taking the detailed statement of Ayhan Aydın, taking the statements of the municipal council members who changed their parties and changed their political preferences during the voting,
2. Investigating the decision processes of members who change parties,
3. Determining who made the threat allegations,
4. Investigating whether money or benefits have been offered,
5. Examining whether judicial processes are used to influence political will,
6. If the necessary legal conditions are met, financial movements must be investigated.
COMPLAINING ADJECTIVE OF THE NEW PARTY
As NEW Party Istanbul Provincial Directorate, we are filing this criminal complaint due to the allegation that our political party activities and political representation in Üsküdar may have been unlawfully prevented.
If it is determined that no crime has occurred as a result of the investigation, it is possible to reveal this within the legal order. However, treating the incident as a political debate without investigating whether the allegations are true will prevent the material truth from being revealed. For this reason, our expectation from your Chief Public Prosecutor's Office is to investigate all parties and all allegations, regardless of any political motivation.
EVIDENCE
1. Full video and audio recording of Özgür Çelik's press release dated September 8, 2026,
2. Social media records of the press release,
3. Press and internet news,
4. News that the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an ex officio investigation,
5. Declaration of council members who changed parties and changed their political preferences during voting
6. Witness statements,
7. Financial records and bank transactions,
8. Other corporate records that may be deemed necessary,
9. Other legal evidence to be obtained during the investigation.
LEGAL REASONS
Turkish Penal Code No. 5237, Criminal Procedure Code No. 5271 and other relevant legislation.
CONCLUSION AND REQUEST
For the reasons presented and explained above;
1. This petition be accepted as a criminal complaint,
2. Yeni Party Istanbul Provincial Directorate's status as complainant / victim should be evaluated within the scope of the investigation,
3. If there is a legal or actual connection between the investigation initiated ex officio by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and this criminal complaint, the files should be evaluated together and the files should be combined.
4. To seriously investigate whether the political will of Üsküdar Municipal Council members who changed parties and changed their political preferences during the vote was changed by threats, pressure, force, money, interest or other unlawful methods,
5. Investigating whether the political party activities of the YENİ Party and its political representation in Üsküdar are being prevented by unlawful methods,
6. All persons mentioned in the allegation and other relevant municipal council members are heard in detail,
7. Investigating whether the political will has been changed in exchange for money, benefits, duties, positions, jobs, tenders or other promises,
8.. Collection of communication, digital, camera and financial evidence, if the necessary legal conditions are met,
9.. Evaluating whether the actions constitute other crimes to be determined as a result of the investigation, including the crime of preventing the exercise of political rights regulated in Article 114 of the Turkish Penal Code,
10. If those responsible are identified, the necessary criminal investigation should be carried out against them and a public lawsuit should be filed,
11. The investigation should not be limited to the allegation of a threat against a council member,
"We respectfully request and demand that it be carried out in a way that covers all persons, actions and relationships that are claimed to affect the political will in the Üsküdar Municipal Council."
