Hasan Mutlu, mayor of the Bayrampaşa district of İstanbul from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), was arrested late Monday along with 25 others in what critics call an expanding crackdown on Turkey’s main opposition party, Turkish Minute reported.
Mutlu was among 45 suspects questioned in a corruption probe into the municipality. A court ordered 26 people, including the mayor, held in pretrial detention, while 19 of the detainees were released under judicial supervision, which typically includes a requirement to regularly check in with the police and a travel ban.
The CHP says the arrests are politically motivated. Mutlu, who was elected in the March 2024 local elections, is the 12th CHP mayor to be jailed since the polls, joining İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the most powerful political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the mayors of several other districts.
“There is neither concrete evidence nor a valid legal reason,” Mutlu said in a statement on X. “Our only crime is refusing to bow to pressure and threats and not abandoning our principles.”
Mutlu won Bayrampaşa in 2024 with 46.67 percent of the vote, defeating the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidate, who received 41 percent.
The CHP has been under mounting government pressure since October of last year.
In addition to İmamoğlu and Mutlu, other CHP mayors in pretrial detention include Ahmet Özer of Esenyurt, Rıza Akpolat of Beşiktaş, Alaattin Köseler of Beykoz, Emrah Şahan of Şişli, Murat Çalık of Beylikdüzü, Hasan Akgün of Büyükçekmece, Hakan Bahçetepe of Gaziosmanpaşa, Utku Caner Çaykara of Avcılar, Kadir Aydar of Ceyhan and Oya Tekin of Seyhan.
More than 500 people linked to the party or the İstanbul Municipality have been detained or arrested since last year’s local elections.
The party and its supporters say the operations targeting the CHP are designed to neutralize elected officials and sideline opposition leaders after the party’s gains in the local elections.
Rights groups have raised an alarm over the series of arrests, saying they further undermine democratic opposition in Turkey ahead of future national elections.
