An İstanbul court has ordered the arrest of 25 more people and launched an investigation into İstanbul’s acting mayor as part of an expanding corruption probe into İstanbul City Hall, over two months after the jailing of Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Deutsche Welle’s (DW) Turkish service reported on Tuesday.
Part of the corruption investigation initiated by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office targeting the metropolitan municipality, prosecutors referred 36 suspects to court on Monday seeking their arrest and requested judicial supervision for 10 others. Following court proceedings, 25 were arrested and 21 were released under the requested monitoring, according to DW.
İmamoğlu, a senior member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and his party’s presidential candidate for the next election, was detained on March 19 and later arrested on corruption charges criticized as politically motivated. His arrest, widely seen as targeting the biggest political rival to longtime President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the 2028 presidential election, sparked Turkey’s worst protests in decades.
Among those arrested in the latest wave of operations were the municipality’s Chief of Staff Kadriye Kasapoğlu and İmamoğlu’s security chief Mustafa Akın.
Meanwhile, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday that the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into İstanbul’s acting mayor, Nuri Aslan, on accusations of “preventing the fulfillment of public duty” after he allegedly threatened security personnel at the İstanbul Courthouse. The incident reportedly occurred during the questioning of suspects detained in the latest wave of the corruption probe last week.
A member of the city council in İstanbul, Aslan was elected by the CHP to run the city in late March in the absence of its mayor İmamoğlu.
Özgür Çelik, the CHP provincial branch chairman in İstanbul, criticized the latest wave of police operations targeting the İstanbul Municipality, calling them a systematic injustice aimed at İmamoğlu and his close associates.
Çelik said the ongoing actions reflected the government’s desperation to obstruct İmamoğlu and his party through judicial means, accusing the government of using the courts as a political tool.
“We are saddened and angry. We will continue to fight this corrupt system until justice, equality before the law and true democracy are established for everyone,” he vowed.
Ekrem Başkanımızı ve yakın çalışma arkadaşlarını hedef alan sistemli bir hukuksuzlukla karşı karşıyayız.
Aylardır devam eden bu hukuksuz uygulamalar, siyaseten rekabet edemediği partimizi ve Cumhurbaşkanı Adayımız Ekrem İmamoğlu’nu yargı sopasıyla engellemeye çalışan iktidarın…
— Özgür Çelik (@ozgurcelikchp) May 26, 2025
Ali Mahir Başarır, the CHP’s group deputy chair, also condemned the arrests on social media, calling the operation “revenge disguised as law enforcement.”
“There is no evidence, no rule of law, only secret witnesses and dirty plots! … Justice no longer prevails in this country — only a desire for revenge. Your dirty schemes will collapse. Good will prevail,” Başarır said.
Adı operasyon, özü intikam!
Delil yok, hukuk yok, sadece gizli tanıklar ve kirli kumpaslar var!
AKP’li Savcı Sayan’ın itirafları karşısında kılını kıpırdatmayanlar, Ekrem İmamoğlu’nun 16 milyon İstanbullu'ya hizmet eden yol arkadaşlarını hedef alıyorlar!
Bu ülkede artık hukuk… https://t.co/OXmDqwUojb
— Ali Mahir Başarır (@alimahir) May 26, 2025
İmamoğlu responded to the latest wave of operations targeting the municipality through a statement on his social media account, managed by his lawyers, saying that while he regrets the injustice and unlawfulness faced by his colleagues, he also regrets the state the country has been plunged into.
“I complain about this lawlessness, born out of political ambition, thirst for power and greed, first to God, then to my dear nation. … What kind of justice system fabricates cases through oppression, intimidation, threats and blackmail?” the mayor added.
Hiç mi Allah’tan korkmaz, kuldan utanmazsın?
Bir yandan yol arkadaşlarımın uğradığı haksızlık ve hukuksuzluğa yanarken, diğer yandan ülkenin içine sokulduğu duruma yanıyorum.
Siyasi hırstan, koltuk sevdasından, dünya nimetlerine tamah etmekten başka hiçbir gerekçesi olmayan bu…
— Cumhurbaşkanlığı Aday Ofisi (@CBAdayOfisi) May 27, 2025
İmamoğlu’s arrest came following months of growing judicial pressure on the CHP that led to the arrest and removal from office of several of its mayors in İstanbul on either terrorism or corruption charges, seen as politically motivated.
Critics say Erdoğan wants to sideline İmamoğlu in the next presidential race, with the ongoing crackdown on him and his party.