Turkey lifted the house arrest of businessman Aziz İhsan Aktaş and İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality adviser Ertan Yıldız, two cooperating suspects who gave statements under Turkey’s “effective remorse” provisions in a probe into alleged bribery and bid rigging, local media reported on Friday.
House arrest remains in place for Beşiktaş Deputy Mayor Alican Abacı and businessman Adem Soytekin, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Case files cited in local coverage say Aktaş’s statements led to warrants for 47 suspects, including senior municipal staff and five district mayors from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). Twenty-two suspects, including five mayors, are jailed pending trial. Prosecutors accuse Aktaş of establishing and leading a criminal organization, bribery, bid rigging and laundering illicit assets. Investigators have frozen assets tied to companies linked to him.
Prosecutors say threats against people who cooperated with the investigation are under a separate inquiry.
The case is part of a yearlong series of operations targeting CHP-run municipalities after late 2024. Authorities describe the moves as anti-corruption enforcement. The party says the steps aim to sideline elected officials after its gains in the March 2024 local elections.