Over the past week, the opposition-held Istanbul municipality has been hit by new waves of arrests targeting public officials employed by the city. The investigation, launched by the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor, accuses municipality officials of ‘corruption’ and ‘bribes’.
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| Turkey: 4th and 5th waves of arrests hit opposition-held Istanbul |
These developments follow the March 19th arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. The mayor’s arrest was widely seen as a watershed political event in Turkey and was followed by the country’s most major protests in over a decade. Days following his arrest, İmamoğlu was nominated as presidential candidate of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
25 arrested in 4th wave
Last week (May 27), 25 municipal employees were detained, including the city’s executive assistant Kadriye Kasapoğlu, KİPTAŞ municipal housing agency chairman Ali Kurt, and neighborhood unit (Muhtarlık) department head Yavuz Saltık.
21 of the 25 individuals arrested were then released on parole.
A wave of arrests on May 23rd had also targeted opposition officials in other cities such as İzmir, Antalya, Tunceli, and Kocaeli.
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| Turkey: 4th and 5th waves of arrests hit opposition-held Istanbul |
5th wave of arrests over the weekend
On Saturday (May 31), 32 further Istanbul municipality officials were arrested after arrest warrants for 47 officials were issued. Among the names were Hasan Akgün, mayor of Istanbul’s Büyükçekmece district, Hakan Haçetepe, mayor of the city’s Gaziosmanpaşa district, and Utku Caner Çaykara, mayor of the Avcılar district.
The arrests are part of a series of investigations targeting alleged corruption within the city’s Beşıktaş and Büyükçekmece districts. The arrest warrants stem from an earlier investigation that resulted in the detention and removal of Beşiktaş district mayor Rıza Akpolat in January.
The arrest warrants also alleged that officials in the Büyükçekmece district engaged in corrupt deals with construction companies that ‘resulted in personal gain’.
Furthermore, an October 29, 2019 Republic Day celebration organized by the Beşiktaş municipality is also a focus of the investigation.
Mounting pressure against Turkey’s opposition
Even prior to his arrest, İmamoğlu had already been facing rising legal pressure, with five pending legal cases against the mayor active as of February 2025.
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January and February saw arrests and raids targeting journalists, Istanbul municipal officials, artists, business leaders, and removal of pro-Kurdish politicians, especially in the country’s southeast.
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
