Turkish police on Thursday detained 26 municipal officials and employees in the western city of İzmir in a bribery investigation targeting a district municipality run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the latest move in a growing series of probes into municipalities governed by the CHP.
According to the Birgün daily, the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said detention orders were issued for 28 suspects as part of an investigation into the Buca district municipality over allegations that zoning and development plans that did not comply with regulations were approved in exchange for bribes and that improper construction permits were issued to secure financial benefits.
Among those named in the detention orders were the municipality’s licensing and inspection director and its zoning director, prosecutors said. Police detained 26 suspects in coordinated operations, while one suspect was believed to be abroad and efforts were continuing to locate another.
In a written statement the Buca Municipality said several staff members had been taken into custody as part of the investigation and pledged full cooperation with judicial authorities, saying it would act with transparency while closely monitoring the legal process.
The case is part of a broader crackdown on the CHP that has intensified since the party’s sweeping victory in the March 2024 local elections, when it again won İstanbul, Ankara and other major cities and secured the largest share of the national vote for the first time in decades.
The CHP described the probes and operations as part of a year-long government campaign targeting its municipalities and mayors in a report titled “Judiciary Against the Ballot Box: The Anatomy of a Coup,” released in late October.
According to the report 16 CHP mayors are currently jailed, while trustees have been appointed to 13 municipalities across the country. The report documented mass arrests, politically motivated prosecutions and the seizure of opposition-run municipalities following the 2024 elections. It also noted a surge in corruption and terrorism-related investigations into CHP officials since the arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in March 2025, calling his case “the most visible example of political pressure on the opposition.”
The CHP argued that the government has increasingly relied on the judiciary “as a political weapon” to roll back opposition gains at the ballot box. Citing hundreds of arrests in nine operations targeting the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality between March and August of 2025, the party said the crackdown violates constitutional guarantees of local autonomy and the presumption of innocence.
Opposition figures and rights groups also contend that the probes are being used to intimidate opposition-led municipalities and overturn election results unfavorable to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
