Turkish police detained 15 people, including the deputy mayor of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)-run Seferihisar Municipality in the western province of İzmir, as part of a bribery investigation, Turkish Minute reported, citing the Bianet news website.
The operation, overseen by the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, was carried out simultaneously in İzmir and one other province. The detainees include Deputy Mayor İbrahim Gökhan Pehlivan.
Prosecutors said digital materials and documents belonging to the suspects were seized and that the investigation was continuing.
Pehlivan has served as Seferihisar deputy mayor, first deputy chair of the municipal council and CHP spokesperson in the district since 2024, according to the municipality’s website.
The operation is the latest in a series of ongoing investigations targeting municipalities run by the CHP, which won many of Turkey’s largest cities and several other municipalities in the 2024 local elections.
Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday that Silivri Mayor Bora Balcıoğlu, another CHP mayor, had been temporarily removed from office after he was arrested as part of a separate investigation.
The ministry said in a statement on X that Balcıoğlu had been suspended after prosecutors launched an investigation into him on charges of establishing and leading a criminal organization, receiving bribes and laundering assets obtained through crime.
Balcıoğlu, the mayor of İstanbul’s Silivri district, was arrested earlier this week along with nine others as part of a corruption investigation into the opposition-run district municipality.
He has denied wrongdoing and described the case as a political operation targeting the will of Silivri voters.
The CHP says the investigations are part of an ongoing effort to criminalize opposition-run local governments and weaken the party before future elections.
The government denies political interference and says the judiciary acts independently.
