The particular question of Turkish corruption behind the arrest of the mayors of Istanbul and how it has become a tool for political oppression

Turkey is in disorder after the mayor of Istanbuls, Ekrem Mamolu, a leading opposition figure and a potential challenger of the Dindes President, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, was arrested March 19 on corruption accusations.

More than 1,000 people who protested the arrest were also detained while hundreds of thousands of demonstrators went into the street angry with what they say to be a major blow against democracy. Mamolu, who denies all the accusations against him, has since been approved as a candidate in the presidential elections in 2028 for the Republican People's Party (CHP).

At the heart of corruption allegations Billaclk in nylon. This literally means nylon billing and refers to the issuance of false invoices. It does not refer to simple office errors or accounting accidents, but deliberate attempts to make transactions, inflate expenses or obscure real beneficiaries.

Technically illegal, the practice is nevertheless widespread in Türkiye. It is part of what many consider the informal economy of the country.

The informal economy in Türkiye extends over everything, from the sale of street and informal recycling to complex tax evasion plans involving registered companies. Billaclk in nylon illustrates how corruption is not always outside the system, but often prosper from the inside.

He exhibits a blurred border between formal and informal economic activity, revealing how certain formal companies manipulate legal frameworks to appear in accordance with illicit practices. In September 2024, the Ministry of Terns Finance discovered 3 billion Turkish LIRA (61 million) false invoices in a survey targeting approximately 4,500 large taxpayers.

Over the past four years, IVE has interviewed more than 60 owners of Turkey business, workers and entrepreneurs, from informal micro-enterprises to integrated companies in formal supply chains. A theme has surfaced again and again: Billaclk in nylonor false billing.

People have not described it as an exception but as part of business manufacturing in an informal economy. In an economy shaped by the unequal application and institutional fragility, this practice has normalized in the last decade. It is not legally accepted, but it has unfortunately become socially expected.

Under the Turkish law, the issuance or the use of false invoices is a serious offense, liable to three to eight years in prison. However, many of my interviewees, in particular those operating in or next to the informal economy, considered false billing as a necessary means to do business. They described it as a viable response to the increase in costs, bureaucratic obstacles and a system that often punishes formality.

Read more: Türkiye: A favorable international climate stimulates Erdoans' repression against democracy

The opposition leaders, whose chief of the CHP, Zgr Zel, argue that the arrest of Mamolus is politically motivated an attempt to discredit their candidate before the presidential election. Zel condemned the operation as an attempted coup against the democratic future of turkey.

In a press conference, He revealed The fact that most people detained alongside Mamolu are linked to companies that have won public contracts from the Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul (BB) under the control of Mamolu. In addition, some of the people arrested, he said, are students or parents without real involvement in supply decisions or public offers.

The key accusation is that these companies have published false invoices billed for the work never done, or for exaggerated or duplicated services. However, Zel maintains that no concrete evidence has been presented so far and that a large part of the governments affair includes testimonies and wave associations of secret tank (secret witnesses).

One of these witnesses would have appointed a communications or media company that had worked with BB and the central government, including on the campaigns ordered by the Presecys communications management which works directly with Erdoan. When the same activity, individuals or businesses, can be formulated as legitimate under an administration and a criminal under another, the border between legality and politics becomes dangerously thin.

While opposition mayors in Türkiye face rapid legal action against corruption, Serious corruption allegations Against the former mayor of Ankara, Melih Gkek, whom he denies, involving nearly 46 billion Turkish LIRA in public losses is not interested. Gkek was a member of the Government and Development Party of the Erdoans Government (AK).

In total, 97 complaints were filed against an alleged fault during the mandate of Gkeks as mayor of Ankara until 2017, but nothing was done. Critics say it reflects Politically selective justice.

A law for some

It's not just a story about false invoices. These are contexts where the rules are unevenly applied, where legal gray areas are abundant and where informality becomes an instrument of flexible control. A practice like Billaclk in nylon Tolerated in a political moment can become a responsibility in another. A company can operate legally while playing good relations with the government and suddenly finds itself suspected when it changes.

Today, in Türkiye, the question is often not whether an act is legal or illegal. It is more a question of knowing who is involved and whose power is threatened. The boundaries between formal, informal or illegal are not simply economic. It is deeply political. This is why the nylon billing problem is so revealing. Far from being a marginal practice, he exposes the daily intersections of power, legitimacy and corruption.

In a climate of deepening polarization and eroding institutional trust, many believe that which is punished for corruption depends less on the act itself and more on what side of the political fracture they fall.

The democracy and the judicial system of the turkeys are tested not only by corruption, but by the way in which selective corruption is studied and applied. In this uncertain moment, the challenge is not only to hold responsible people, but to rebuild confidence in institutions and to ensure that justice is applied fairly. THE Slogan of demonstrators Rights, law, justice (Rights, law, justice) has a deeper warning: power is temporary, but justice must endure.

As many demonstrators in Türkiye now remind the Erdoan government: when balance moves, people in power today can be found in the need of the very fair and independent legal system, they are now so determined to underm.