 have been removed from office, following their arrests as part of an expanding crackdown on the opposition.){kind=link}
Turkey’s interior ministry announced on Thursday that five district mayors from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) have been removed from office, following their arrests as part of an expanding crackdown on the opposition.
The mayors of İstanbul’s Avcılar, Büyükçekmece and Gaziosmanpaşa districts, along with those of Adana’s Seyhan and Ceyhan districts, were officially suspended pending the outcome of ongoing judicial proceedings. All five were detained last weekend and arrested on Wednesday.
The move brings the total number of suspended CHP mayors to 11, including İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was arrested in March on corruption charges. Other previously suspended mayors include Rıza Akpolat (Beşiktaş), Alaattin Köseler (Beykoz), Mehmet Murat Çalık (Beylikdüzü), Resul Emrah Şahan (Şişli) and Ahmet Özer (Esenyurt), who was arrested under a separate terrorism-related probe.
The recent arrests are tied to four separate investigations overseen by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutors say the probes focus on alleged financial crimes linked to municipal contracts and have also named businessman Aziz İhsan Aktaş as the alleged ringleader of a criminal network involved in rigged tenders.
As part of the fifth wave of operations, a total of 22 people were put in pretrial detention on Wednesday, including the five mayors as well as CHP party council member Baki Aydöner and former lawmaker Aykut Erdoğdu. Another 14 suspects were released under judicial supervision.
The interior ministry’s decision came amid growing criticism over video footage that showed elected CHP officials, including mayors, being paraded in handcuffs to the İstanbul Courthouse on Tuesday, an image widely condemned by the opposition as degrading and politically motivated.
The investigations into CHP-run municipalities began in October 2024 with the arrest of Esenyurt Mayor Özer. It has since expanded to include district municipalities across İstanbul and most recently, Adana.
The arrests come in the wake of the CHP’s sweeping victory in the March 2024 local elections in which the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) suffered its worst electoral defeat in two decades, losing control of key cities to the opposition.
İstanbul Mayor İmamoğlu, seen as a leading contender to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the next presidential election, was declared his party’s presidential candidate on March 23, the same day he was arrested. His detention sparked nationwide protests, marking the largest wave of unrest in Turkey in over a decade.
Opposition leaders and rights groups have accused the Erdoğan government of using judicial pressure to suppress political rivals and roll back democratic gains made by opposition-held local governments.