The mayors of three major cities in southern Turkey were arrested on Saturday, reported the Associated Press, adding to the growing list of opposition figures detained since the imprisonment of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu in March.
Abdurrahman Tutdere, the mayor of Adiyaman, and Zeydan Karalar, the head of the Adana municipality, were detained in early morning raids, reports Anadolu. Both are members of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). Ten people, including Karalar and Tutdere, were arrested as part of an investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office on charges of organized crime, bribery, and bid rigging. The prosecutor's statement said that evidence against Karalar and Tutdere was provided by a businessman who cooperated with the prosecution after being detained for leading a criminal organization and giving bribes. Prosecutors added that the mayors "demanded improper financial benefits from company executives doing business with the municipality."
Antalya Mayor Muhittin Bocek, also a CHP member, was arrested along with two other suspects as part of a separate bribery investigation conducted by the Antalya Chief Prosecutor's Office, reported Anadolu.
This year, CHP officials have faced a wave of arrests, which many believe were aimed at neutralizing Turkey's main opposition party. The government insists that prosecutors and the judiciary act independently, but the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu led to the largest street protests in Turkey in over a decade.
The detention of the mayors followed the arrests of dozens of officials from CHP-controlled municipalities in recent months.
After their arrest, CHP Chairman Ozgur Ozel convened a meeting of the party's top leadership. Meanwhile, Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas from CHP questioned why municipalities controlled by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party do not face the same judicial scrutiny as opposition politicians.
"In a system where the law is tailored to politics, where justice is applied to one group and ignored for another, no one should expect us to trust the rule of law or believe in fairness," he wrote on the social network X.
Earlier this week, the former mayor of Izmir from CHP and 137 municipal officials were also detained. On Friday, former mayor Tunc Soyer and 59 others were imprisoned pending trial, with Soyer's lawyer calling it an "obviously unfair, illegal, and politically motivated decision."
On Friday, the mayor of Manavgat, a resort town on the Mediterranean coast in Antalya province, and 34 officials were detained on suspicion of corruption.
Ekrem Imamoglu, considered the main rival to Erdogan, who has been in power for 22 years, was imprisoned four months ago. The formal reason for the detention of one of Turkey's most popular politicians was an investigation into illegal tenders, bribery, and extortion.
Imamoglu was officially nominated as his party's presidential candidate after his imprisonment. The next elections in Turkey are scheduled for 2028 but could be held earlier.