A Turkish court has ordered the arrest of Beyoğlu Mayor İnan Güney and 16 others on charges of fraud and membership in a criminal organization, marking the latest escalation in a yearlong crackdown on the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Turkish Minute reported.
Beyoğlu, a historic district at the heart of İstanbul’s cultural and political life, is home to landmarks such as İstiklal Avenue and Taksim Square, making its mayor a high-profile opposition figure in the city’s governance.
Güney, who was elected mayor of Beyoğlu in the March 31, 2024 local elections and ended the years-long Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule in the district, was detained last week along with 43 others in an investigation carried out by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. The suspects were accused of involvement in a criminal network allegedly linked to Murat Ongun, a senior adviser to jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is also in pretrial detention, and suspect Emrah Bağdatlı, a media consultant currently at large.
Charges include running a criminal organization for profit, bribery, fraud and unlawful access to personal data. Prosecutors said the suspects played roles in schemes targeting public institutions through various entities of the CHP-run İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB).
According to Anka, 20 suspects were referred to court with a request for their arrest after five days in custody and hours of questioning by prosecutors. Seventeen, including Güney, were arrested and jailed pending trial on charges of fraud and membership in a criminal organization, while 27 others were released under judicial supervision.
The Interior Ministry later suspended Güney from his post, pending the outcome of his trial.
In his testimony, Güney denied the accusations, saying the case lacked a legal foundation. “The call records and financial reports allegedly cited in the referral [for arrest], as my lawyers also stated, were not presented to us either during the police or the prosecutor’s questioning. I believe that a decision made without allowing us to defend ourselves on matters we are unaware of would wound the public conscience,” he said.
The arrests drew swift condemnation from the CHP. Mahir Başarır, deputy parliamentary group chair of the party, said, “… They have now arrested our Beyoğlu mayor, İnan Güney, with political revenge. Those who usurp the people’s will by using the judiciary as a tool will face the greatest reaction from the people. We stand firmly by all our friends under arrest.”
The CHP’s İstanbul provincial chair, Özgür Çelik, said it was not Güney who was being punished but the people of Beyoğlu. He noted that the CHP became Turkey’s largest party in the March 2024 elections and that its municipalities had provided support to the people and alleviated poverty — a success the government could not accept.
CHP Deputy Chairman Suat Özçağdaş said 17 people, including Güney, had been unlawfully jailed in what he called “a clear revenge operation.”
“It is not only a mayor who has been arrested, but the people’s will, democracy and the people-focused municipal governance proudly carried out in Beyoğlu,” he added.
Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş also criticized Güney’s arrest, saying that when it comes to CHP mayors, the law is applied in reverse. “The rule should be trials without arrest, but here arrest has become the rule and release the exception,” he said.
Tuesday’s arrests follow the ninth wave of operations targeting the İBB and affiliated institutions since the CHP scored a decisive victory in the March 2024 local elections. İmamoğlu, widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s top political rival, was arrested on corruption charges in March and has been jailed since.
İmamoğlu denies wrongdoing and calls the prosecutions “a transparent attempt” to block his candidacy in the next presidential election.
