Latest news with #EkremImamoglu
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Turkish authorities detain 109 in Izmir as part of corruption investigation
Turkish authorities detained 109 people, including opposition party members and a former mayor, on Tuesday in Izmir, the Anadolu state news agency said, expanding a months-long legal crackdown on the opposition that had been focused on Istanbul. The Izmir prosecutor ordered the detention of a total of 157 people in the early morning hours as part of an investigation into corruption, tender rigging and fraud in the western coastal city, Anadolu reported. Police are continuing efforts to find the remaining 48 people, it added. Murat Bakan, an Izmir politician from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) – which has faced waves of arrests since late last year – said former Izmir mayor Tunc Soyer had been detained along with senior officials and a provincial chairman of the party. 'We woke up to another dawn operation today. We are facing a process similar to what happened in Istanbul,' Bakan said on X, adding that the judicial system appeared to be 'acting on instructions'. READ MORE Those arrested in Turkey's broader crackdown include Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu , the main political rival of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan . Mr Imamoglu was jailed in March pending trial on corruption charges, which he denies. That sparked the largest street protests in a decade and a sharp sell-off in Turkish assets. The CHP denies the charges levelled against it. Along with some western countries, the CHP and rights groups have called the crackdown a politicised move to eliminate electoral challenges to Erdogan and silence dissent. The government denies these claims, saying Turkey's judiciary and courts are independent. According to the prosecutor's statement published by Anadolu news, the investigation into Izmir municipality found that irregularities in tenders and expenses involving subcontractor companies had caused public loss. Meanwhile, a cartoon in a Turkish satirical magazine depicting what appeared to be prophets Muhammad and Moses was an 'Islamophobic hate crime', the spokesperson for Mr Erdogan's ruling party said on Tuesday. The comments amplify a wave of official condemnation a day after four cartoonists at the Leman magazine were detained over the drawing. The cartoon, published a few days after the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, appears to show Muhammad, who Muslims believe is the final prophet, and Moses, one of Judaism's most important prophets, shaking hands in the sky while missiles fly below in a wartime scene. It was also criticised by religious conservatives, even as the magazine apologised to readers who felt offended and said it had been misunderstood. More than 200 people arrived to protest against Leman in central Istanbul on Tuesday, despite a ban on gatherings and heavy police presence. 'This has nothing to do with art, ideas, freedom of expression or artistic freedom,' Omer Celik, the ruling AK Party spokesperson, told reporters in Ankara. 'In our view, this is a hate crime – an act of hostility directly targeting Islam, prophet Moses and our prophet.' Mr Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted AK Party regularly criticise what they call Islamophobic acts in secular Turkey and across Europe. Muslims see depictions of the prophet Muhammad as blasphemous. In a statement on X, Leman said 'the work does not refer to the prophet Muhammad in any way'. The cartoonist, Dogan Pehlevan, had sought to highlight 'the suffering of a Muslim man killed in Israeli attacks', it said, adding there was no intent to insult Islam or its prophet. The magazine urged authorities to counter what it called a smear campaign and to protect freedom of expression. Several civil society groups condemned the detentions, calling them a violation of freedom of thought and expression. Turkey's freedom of expression ranking is low due to restrictions on media and public discourse. Reporters Without Borders ranked it 158th out of 180 countries in its 2024 Press Freedom Index. Late on Monday, interior minister Ali Yerlikaya shared a video on X showing police officers detaining Mr Pehlevan 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, DP, has been apprehended and taken into custody. These shameless people will be held accountable before the law,' Mr Yerlikaya wrote. The government said an inquiry was launched under a penal code article that criminalises incitement to hatred and enmity, and that detention orders had been issued for six people in total. – Reuters
Arab News
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Turkiye detains 120 opposition officials including former mayor
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 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 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 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 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 crackdown comes a year after the CHP made significant gains in local elections.
DW
7 hours ago
- Politics
- DW
Turkey detains scores of opposition party members in Izmir – DW – 07/01/2025
The arrests came after a similar operation in Istanbul earlier this year that saw the arrest of its mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the principle political rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Authorities in Turkey detained 157 people, including opposition party members and a former mayor of Izmir, early on Tuesday, local media and the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) said. The Izmir prosecutor ordered the detentions in the early hours as part of an investigation into corruption, tender rigging and fraud in the west-coast city, broadcaster NTV reported. The coastal city is seen as a bastion of Turkey's political opposition. Izmir's former mayor, Tunc Soyer, and numerous "senior officials" were among those detained in Izmir, Murat Bakan, the vice president of the CHP posted on X. "We are faced with a process similar to that in Istanbul," Bakan said, referring to the March 19 arrest of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. Bakan added that Senol Aslanoglu, the party's regional president, was among those detained on Tuesday. "These dawn arrests were not a legal obligation, but a clear political choice," Bakan added, saying that many of those detained had already been under investigation. "If they had been called to testify, they would have done so." "This dawn detention is not a legal necessity but a clear political choice. Indeed, President Erdogan signaled these operations from the palace a few days ago. The scene we are witnessing today is not a product of the rule of law but of a judicial system acting on instructions." The arrests in Izmir come amid a months-long legal crackdown on the opposition that had been focused on Istanbul. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A similar operation in Turkey's largest city on March 19 saw the arrest of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the principle rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Imamoglu was jailed in March pending trial on corruption charges, which he denies. Last month he appeared in court on charges of threatening, insulting, and targeting a public official. Imamoglu's arrest sparked the largest street protests in a decade and a sharp selloff in Turkish assets. While opposition parties have accused Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of making use of a politicized judiciary to crack down on dissent, the government denies the charges, saying that judges are independent. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
France 24
9 hours ago
- Politics
- France 24
Turkey arrests more than 120 city hall members in opposition stronghold Izmir
Turkish police have arrested more than 120 city hall members in the opposition bastion of Izmir, local media and the CHP opposition party said on Tuesday. The arrests, on charges of alleged corruption, came after a similar operation in opposition-run Istanbul on March 19 that saw the arrest of its popular mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, the main political rival of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In Izmir, Turkey 's third-largest city that the opposition has run for years, a former mayor and numerous "senior officials" were among those detained, Murat Bakan, the vice president of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) wrote on X. In total, some 157 arrest warrants were issued in the operation, local media reported. "We are faced with a process similar to that in Istanbul," Bakan wrote, adding that Tunc Soyer, a former mayor, and Senol Aslanoglu, the party's regional president, were among those detained. "These dawn arrests were not a legal obligation, but a clear political choice," Bakan wrote, saying that many of those detained had already been under investigation. "If they had been called to testify, they would have done so," he said.
Reuters
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Turkey opposition crackdown spreads to Izmir with 157 detentions, NTV says
ISTANBUL, July 1 (Reuters) - Turkish authorities detained 157 people including opposition party members and a former mayor in Izmir early on Tuesday, broadcaster NTV reported, expanding a months-long legal crackdown on the opposition that had been focused on Istanbul. The Izmir prosecutor ordered the detentions in the early morning hours as part of an investigation into corruption, tender rigging and fraud in the west-coast city, NTV reported. Murat Bakan, an Izmir MP from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) - which has faced waves of arrests since late last year - said former Izmir Mayor Tunc Soyer was detained along with senior bureaucrats and a party provincial chairman. "We woke up to another dawn operation today," he said on X. "We are facing a process similar to what happened in Istanbul," Bakan said, adding that it appeared to be "a judicial system acting on instructions". Those arrested in the broader crackdown include Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu - President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival. Imamoglu was jailed in March pending trial on corruption charges, which he denies. That sparked the largest street protests in a decade and a sharp selloff in Turkish assets. The CHP denies the charges. It and some Western countries have called the crackdown a politicised move to eliminate electoral challenges to Erdogan and silence dissent. The government denies these claims, saying the judiciary and Turkey's courts are independent. NTV said the investigation into Izmir municipality in part looks at potential corruption involving subcontractor companies.
