A former executive at a municipality-owned company in Istanbul told a court on Tuesday that she was subjected to a strip-search in police custody and threatened with losing custody of her children after asking to consult with her lawyer during a corruption investigation involving officials linked to Istanbul’s opposition-run city administration.
According to the TR724 news website, Fatoş Pınar Türker, the former general manager of Media A.Ş., made the allegations on Tuesday while testifying before the Istanbul 40th High Criminal Court at a prison complex in Silivri, west of Istanbul.
Türker told the court that officers at Istanbul police headquarters ordered her to remove her clothes, expose her genitals and bend over during what she described as a degrading strip-search. She also alleged that a prosecutor later threatened that social services could take custody of her children.
She also claimed that a prosecutor threatened her after she said she wanted to consult with her lawyer before providing additional testimony.
“A mother should not be told such things,” Türker told the court. “They threatened me through my children.”
The allegations emerged during a sprawling trial involving hundreds of defendants, including jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival. Opposition politicians have described the investigation as politically motivated, while Turkish authorities say the case concerns alleged criminal wrongdoing.
Türker, who served as general manager of Media A.Ş., a company owned by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, was detained on March 19, 2025, as part of a sweeping corruption investigation that targeted more than 100 people linked to the municipality. She was later jailed pending trial and remains in pretrial detention. Prosecutors accuse defendants in the case of offenses including bribery, fraud and involvement in an alleged criminal organization, allegations they deny.
At several points during her testimony, Türker became emotional while describing the impact of her detention on her family and appealed to the court for release pending trial.
Following her testimony, İmamoğlu called for an investigation into the allegations, saying the claims of mistreatment should not be ignored and urging the court to determine whether officials involved should face scrutiny.
The allegations also drew a response from independent lawmaker Mustafa Yeneroğlu, who submitted parliamentary questions to the Interior Ministry and called for an immediate investigation. Yeneroğlu described Türker’s testimony as “horrifying” and said authorities could not remain silent in the face of the allegations.
Yeneroğlu argued that no one should be subjected to treatment that violates human dignity regardless of the accusations they face. He said the claims should be thoroughly investigated and questioned the legal basis for any strip searches carried out during the March 2025 operation targeting Istanbul municipality officials.
