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The detainees include the deputy mayors of the districts of
Kartal and Atasehir, along with eight district municipal council
members, Anadolu reported. All suspects are members of Turkey’s
main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP.
They were detained on suspicion of appointing people with
alleged connections to Kurdish militants to municipal positions,
thereby allowing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, to
infiltrated the municipalities, Anadolu reported.
Critics view the detentions as part of a government campaign to
discredit Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, seen as a potential
future challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, along with
other opposition figures in the city.
Erdogan’s government rejects allegations that it puts pressure
on the courts, insisting the judiciary operates independently.
The CHP made significant gains in Istanbul and across the
country in local elections last year, in a major setback to
Erdogan’s ruling party.
There was no immediate comment from the CHP’s leadership.
Imamoglu blamed the detentions on Erdogan, maintaining in a post
on social media platform X that the move was the result of the
“whims of one person who considers himself to be above the will
of the people.”
Imamoglu is facing possible jail terms over a series of charges
brought against him, including for criticizing legal
investigations targeting him and other mayors. In 2022, he was
sentenced for insulting public officials after he spoke out
against a 2019 decision to annul the initial round of local
elections, which he had won. If a higher court upholds his
conviction, he could be banned from politics for five years.
Last year, the mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district was
arrested over alleged links to the PKK, while the mayor of
Besiktas district, was arrested earlier this year over
allegations of bid-rigging and bribery. The two have rejected
the accusations.
Since the local elections, the government has ousted several
elected mayors from the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and
Democracy Party for alleged ties to the PKK and replaced them
with state appointees. The party denies accusations of links to
the banned group.
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