Turkiye detains 120 opposition officials including former mayor

14 hours ago

Police detained 120 officials from the opposition Republican People's Party, including former Izmir Mayor Tunc SoyerThe Izmir Public Prosecutor's Office issued arrest warrants against 157 officialsANKARA: Turkish authorities on Tuesday detained a former mayor and dozens of municipality officials in the western city of Izmir over alleged corruption, extending a crackdown against the country's main opposition party.Police detained 120 officials from the opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP, including former Izmir Mayor Tunc Soyer and the party's provincial leader Senol Aslanoglu, state-run Anadolu Agency said. In total, the Izmir Public Prosecutor's Office issued arrest warrants against 157 officials as part of an investigation into alleged rigging of municipality tenders and fraud, it added.Officials from CHP-controlled municipalities in Istanbul and elsewhere have faced waves of arrests this year, including Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu who was arrested in March over allegations of corruption. His arrest triggered the largest street protests Turkiye has seen in more than a decade.Imamoglu is regarded as the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 22-year rule and was officially nominated as his party's presidential candidate following his imprisonment. Turkiye's next election is due in 2028 but could come sooner.Many people in Turkiye consider the cases to be politically driven, according to opinion polls. But Erdogan's government insists the courts are impartial and free from political involvement.The crackdown comes a year after the CHP made significant gains in local elections.

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Arab News

7 hours ago

Arab News

Erdogan condemns blasphemous cartoon

ANKARA, ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday condemned as a 'vile provocation' a blasphemous cartoon in a satirical magazine. The cartoon was criticized by religious conservatives and Erdogan's ruling party, which called it an 'Islamophobic hate crime,' even as the magazine Leman apologized to readers who felt offended and said it had been misunderstood. 'We will not allow anyone to speak against our sacred values,' Erdogan said in televised remarks, adding that authorities would closely follow the legal process. 'Those who show disrespect to our Prophet and other prophets will be held accountable before the law,' he said. Four Leman cartoonists were detained late on Monday over the drawing. The government said an inquiry was launched under a penal code article that criminalizes incitement to hatred and enmity. Crowds rallied against Leman in central Istanbul on Tuesday, despite a ban on gatherings and a heavy police presence. Late on Monday, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya shared a video on X showing police officers detaining Pehlevan, the cartoonist, with his hands cuffed behind his back as he was dragged up a stairwell. He also shared videos of three other men being removed from their homes and dragged into vans, one of them barefoot. 'The individual who drew this vile image, D.P., has been apprehended and taken into custody. These shameless people will be held accountable before the law,' Yerlikaya wrote. The government said an inquiry was launched under a penal code article that criminalizes incitement to hatred and enmity. A group called Islamic Solidarity Platform called a protest on Tuesday, prompting police to shut Taksim Square and Istiklal, the city's busy shopping thoroughfare. The group of around 300 protesters shouted slogans at the magazine. According to a correspondent, the protesters were far less aggressive than those who rallied on Monday night, when around 400 people tried to storm a bar frequented by the magazine staff.

US Senate begins voting on Trump tax-cut and spending bill

Al Arabiya

11 hours ago

Al Arabiya

US Senate begins voting on Trump tax-cut and spending bill

The Republican-controlled US Senate on Tuesday began voting on whether to approve a sweeping tax-cut and spending bill President Donald Trump wants enacted by Friday and that Democrats oppose.

Former Russian deputy defense minister is sentenced to 13 years for corruption

Arab News

13 hours ago

Arab News

Former Russian deputy defense minister is sentenced to 13 years for corruption

Ivanov was arrested in April 2024 on suspicion of taking bribesIvanov, who had pleaded not guilty, was also stripped of all his state awards MOSCOW: Former Russian deputy defense minister Timur Ivanov was found guilty of corruption on Tuesday and sentenced to 13 years in was arrested in April 2024 on suspicion of taking bribes, and investigators added new embezzlement charges in case is part of the biggest slew of corruption scandals to hit the Russian defense establishment in years. More than a dozen people, including two other former deputy ministers, have been arrested in a series of who had pleaded not guilty, was also stripped of all his state awards. His lawyer said he would media reported that the total sum alleged to have been embezzled by Ivanov and others was 4.1 billion roubles ($48.8 million), mostly in the form of bank transfers to two foreign trial took place behind closed doors on grounds of state secrecy. A former subordinate of Ivanov, Anton Filatov, was sentenced to 12-1/2 media said Ivanov and his wife owned a luxury apartment in central Moscow, a three-story English-style mansion on the outskirts of the capital and an extensive collection of classic cars including a Bentley and an Aston arrest last year was celebrated by Russia's 'Z-bloggers,' an influential group of war correspondents and analysts who support Moscow's invasion of Ukraine but argue that front-line troops have been let down by the military top brass, whom they have frequently portrayed as incompetent, out-of-touch and corrupt.