Istanbul Mayor retorts Interior Minister’s terror allegations

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Saturday smacked Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu in what seemed to be the toughest duel between the two, after Soylu said over a thousand employees in Istanbul municipal corporation were linked with terrorist organizations.

“We are faced with a person who formed a habit of telling lies and slanders. He is a serious security problem for our country, for our nation. He divides our country and our institutions,” Imamoglu said.

Earlier on Saturday morning, Soylu claimed that “1668 employees in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality or their relatives had a record of contact and affiliation with a terrorist organization.”

Imamoglu reminded that three years ago Soylu had claimed that more than 700 employees of the city were linked with terrorism.

“After several investigations, only 41 people were prosecuted and all of them were acquitted,” Imamoglu said.

He continued:

"As far as I know, an interior minister does not speak much, he does a lot of work. He is mysterious. He stays calm. He talks once a month.(..) But this is not such a person. He talks every day. He responds to tweets, he responds to every citizen. Can there be an interior minister like this? I think he can't even enter his house in peace. They'll kick him out of his house. (..) I hope our nation, our country soon gets rid of this bad and immoral language.”