Turkish authorities detained 15 people on Friday in a third phase of a corruption investigation targeting the opposition-run Kuşadası Municipality, while prosecutors issued detention warrants for 21 suspects, including the daughter and son-in-law of New Party MP Bülent Tezcan, Turkish Minute reported.
The operation, carried out simultaneously in Aydın, İzmir and Antalya provinces, is part of an investigation led by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into allegations of bribery and extortion involving the municipality.
Among those detained were Kuşadası Municipality Chief of Staff Şebnem Kars Şenol, former deputy mayor Oğuzhan Turan and city council member Ali Kotan. Prosecutors also issued detention warrants for lawyer Ezgi Tezcan Yaşar, Tezcan’s daughter, and her husband, lawyer Umut Yaşar.
According to prosecutors, the investigation is based on witness testimony, statements made by suspects under Turkey’s effective remorse provisions, telephone traffic records and reports from the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), which prosecutors said together established reasonable suspicion that bribery and extortion offenses had been committed.
Authorities said 15 of the 21 suspects had been detained, while prosecutors said operations to apprehend the remaining suspects were continuing.
Speaking to journalist İsmail Saymaz, Tezcan said his daughter and son-in-law, both attorneys at law, were abroad on vacation and would return to Turkey as soon as possible.
“They have nothing to fear or be concerned about,” Tezcan said, adding that the two lawyers represent jailed Kuşadası Mayor Ömer Günel and had been targeted for weeks.
The latest operation follows earlier phases of the investigation launched in March that resulted in the arrest of Günel on charges of bribery and corruption, which he denies.
Tezcan is one of the founding lawmakers of the New Party, established on July 24 after ousted Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel and 90 other lawmakers resigned from the CHP following a Turkish appeals court ruling in May that annulled the party’s 2023 leadership congress and reinstated former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
The ruling ended months of litigation over allegations of vote-buying at the congress that brought Özel to CHP leadership. Özel and his allies rejected the decision as judicial interference in opposition politics and formed the New Party.
