Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) was hit with a new wave of arrests over the weekend. The arrests follow several months of increasing pressure on the opposition since the March 19th arrest of Istanbul Mayor and CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu.
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| Turkey: New wave of arrests targets more opposition controlled municipalities |
An operation in Turkey’s Aegean city of İzmir last Friday (July 4) resulted in the detention of former İzmir Mayor Tunç Soyer, CHP’s İzmir head Şenol Aslanoğlu, and Heval Savaş Kaya, the former head of İzmir’s municipal concrete service. The officials are alleged to have engaged in corrupt business dealings during their time in office. Jail time has been requested for all three officials arrested Friday. The wave of arrests included a total of 119 individuals in İzmir, including numerous civil servants and lower ranking opposition officials.
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On Saturday (July 5), Adana Mayor Zeydan Karalar, Antalya Mayor Muhittin Böcek, and Adıyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere were detained by Turkish Police. The detention of three sitting opposition mayors from three major Turkish cities represents the latest escalation in months of mounting pressure against the country’s opposition. Karalar and Tutdere have been accused of receiving ‘unfair material benefits’ through business dealings during their time in office. The two mayors were part of a group of 15 individuals arrested Saturday on alleged crimes including “taking and giving bribes”, “being a member of a criminal organization”, “extortion” and “laundering the proceeds of crime”.
Following historic gains in Turkey’s 2024 local elections, the CHP has been subject to increasing legal pressure from Turkey’s ruling government, which began with the October 30th arrest of Dr Ahmet Özer, district mayor of Istanbul’s suburb of Esenyurt. The move to arrest Özer was considered a significant escalation, as previous removals of elected officials in Turkey had always targeted politicians belonging to pro-Kurdish parties such as the now-defunct People’s Democratic Party (HDP).
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In the months since, dozens of elected officials from both the CHP and the pro-Kurdish DEM Party have been removed from office, in some cases being replaced by state-appointed trustees.
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Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
