Politics · Turkey · 5 hrs ago
Turkish intelligence assessment reaches court in Istanbul espionage case
A Turkish intelligence assessment on digital evidence has reached an Istanbul court hearing an espionage case.
The defendants are Ekrem İmamoğlu, a former Istanbul mayor, Hüseyin Gün, Necati Özkan and Merdan Yanardağ.
İmamoğlu was suspended from his mayoral role after being jailed in a separate case; all four are being tried on espionage charges.
The assessment says Gün’s devices contained contacts linked to former foreign intelligence and defence officials, as well as material about election campaigns and social media analysis.
It also describes documents about a group called X81 and digital monitoring, but these are claims in the assessment, not a court finding.
Turkey’s intelligence agency says the material suggests Gün went beyond ordinary commercial activity and sought to influence political processes, an allegation he faces in the case.
The court had asked the agency to investigate emails and access records related to Istanbul municipal systems; the case’s next steps are not stated.
Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization sent a digital-material assessment to a court hearing an Istanbul espionage case.
The assessment said defendant Hüseyin Gün had contacts with people who had held senior roles in foreign intelligence services and had materials related to political and social-media analysis.
It described Gün as having a profile that went beyond that of a simple commercial actor and as being involved in activities aimed at influencing states’ political processes.
The case involves Ekrem İmamoğlu, Hüseyin Gün, Necati Özkan and Merdan Yanardağ.
The assessment was requested by Istanbul’s 25th High Criminal Court as part of inquiries into emails and access records for systems linked to ibb.gov.tr.
- Who
- The defendants are Ekrem İmamoğlu, Hüseyin Gün, Necati Özkan and Merdan Yanardağ. The assessment focused in part on Gün.
- What
- Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization sent the court an assessment of digital materials in an espionage case.
- When
- The article was published on November 9, 2026. The date the assessment reached the court is not stated.
- Where
- Istanbul, Turkey.
- Why
- The court had requested information relating to certain emails, user IP records and security logs for systems linked to ibb.gov.tr.
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- Court
- Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court
- Assessment source
- Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization
- Defendant highlighted
- Hüseyin Gün
- Company materials
- Presentations and reports related to the 2019 local elections and campaign management
- Named structure
- X81, described in the assessment as involving US- and UK-based intelligence analysts
What people are saying
The research showed that he had an extensive network in his phone contacts, including people who had held senior positions in intelligence services such as MI6, GCHQ, the CIA and Mossad, served as defense ministry officials, or worked in former special forces.
This shows that Hüseyin Gün was in direct and intensive contact with people of precisely this profile and, in the process, sought to exert influence over political and strategic processes in Turkey through this network.