Turkey Detains Three Mayors in Widening Probe, Anadolu Reports
Zeydan Karalar, Muhittin Bocek and Abdurrahman Tutdere, the mayors of Adana, Antalya and Adiyaman respectively, were taken into custody on Saturday, Anadolu reported. The raids are an extension of earlier investigations into alleged graft within CHP-led administrations, the agency said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
6 hours ago
- Wall Street Journal
Turkish Police Detain Three More Mayors From Party Opposed to Erdogan
ISTANBUL—Turkish police detained the opposition-affiliated mayors of three important cities on Saturday, widening a clampdown on political rivals of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following the arrest of Istanbul's mayor earlier this year. The government has said the detentions are part of an investigation into alleged corruption in opposition-controlled municipalities. Officials of the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), have disputed the charges.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Three more Turkish opposition mayors detained as crackdown expands
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish authorities detained three more mayors from the main opposition party on Saturday, according to a prosecutor's statement and media reports, expanding a months-long legal crackdown that has expanded beyond its origins in Istanbul. The mayors of the big southern cities of Adana and Adiyaman were detained on allegations of extortion, the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office said, along with some eight other people. Broadcaster NTV said Antalya's mayor and the deputy mayor of Istanbul's Buyukcekmece district were also detained as part of the broader investigation in which hundreds of members of the Republic People's Party (CHP), including 11 mayors previously, have been targeted since October last year. The CHP broadly denies the charges and calls the probe politically driven, charges the government denies. In March Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the main political rival of President Tayyip Erdogan, was jailed pending trial on corruption charges, which he denies. That sparked the largest street protests in a decade and a sharp selloff in Turkish assets.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
Mayors arrested in Turkey's crackdown on opposition
The mayors of three major cities in southern Turkey are behind bars, state-run media reports, joining a growing list of opposition figures detained since the mayor of Istanbul was imprisoned in March. Abdurrahman Tutdere, the mayor of Adiyaman, and Zeydan Karalar, who heads Adana municipality, were arrested in early-morning raids on Saturday, according to Anadolu Agency. Both are members of the main opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP. The CHP mayor of Antalya, Muhittin Bocek, was arrested with two other suspects in a separate bribery investigation by the Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, Anadolu reported. Karalar was arrested in Istanbul and Tutdere was arrested in the capital, Ankara, where he has a home. Tutdere posted on X that he was being taken to Istanbul. Ten people, including Karalar and Tutdere, were arrested as part of an investigation by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into allegations involving organised crime, bribery and bid-rigging. Details of the charges against them were not immediately released but the operation follows the arrests of scores of officials from municipalities controlled by the CHP in recent months. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, widely considered the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan 's 22-year rule, was jailed four months ago over corruption allegations. The former CHP mayor of Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city, and 137 municipal officials were detained earlier this week as part of an investigation into alleged tender-rigging and fraud. On Friday, ex-mayor Tunc Soyer and 59 others were jailed pending trial in what Soyer's lawyer described as "a clearly unjust, unlawful and politically motivated decision". Also Friday, it was reported by state-run media that the CHP mayor of Manavgat, a Mediterranean resort city in Antalya province, and 34 others were detained over alleged corruption. CHP officials have faced waves of arrests in 2025 that many consider aimed at neutralising Turkey's main opposition party. The government insists prosecutors and the judiciary act independently but the arrest of Istanbul's Imamoglu led to the largest street protests Turkey has seen in more than a decade. Imamoglu was officially nominated as his party's presidential candidate following his imprisonment. Turkey's next election is due in 2028 but could come sooner.
