Probes into CHP-Run Istanbul Municipalities Widen

Those held include Aykut Erdoğdu, a former MP of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Utku Caner Çaykara, Hakan Bahçetepe and Hasan Akgün, the mayors of three CHP-run districts of Istanbul.

Kadir Aydar and Oya Tekin, the CHP mayors of two districts in the southern city of Adana, were also among the detainees.

The detentions were part of four separate corruption investigations involving the Istanbul Municipality, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

They are the fifth wave of a crackdown against the Istanbul administration since March 19, when Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was arrested on corruption charges.

İmamoğlu was selected as the CHP presidential candidate for the next elections through a public primary on March 23.

His arrest sparked widespread demonstrations calling for his release and early elections.

The opposition and its supporters claim his arrest and the subsequent arrest of dozens more from the CHP, are politically motivated. However, the government insists Türkiye's judiciary is independent and free of political influence.

“This time the coup didn’t come with boots and tanks, but with prosecutor’s robes,” CHP leader Özgür Özel said on May 31 before a crowd of supporters in the northwestern city of Düzce.

“There are allegations but no indictment yet, slander but no evidence, prison but no trial. [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, yesterday's victim, has become today's oppressor."

The second wave of operations against CHP-run municipalities and districts occurred in late April, and the third and fourth waves were in late May, resulting in dozens of detentions.

Source: HDN