A Turkish court on Friday sentenced Ahmet Özer, the mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), to more than six years in prison on a terrorism conviction, months after ordering his release pending trial, the Birgün daily reported.
Prosecutors accused Özer of membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an outlawed militant group designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, even as the government has in recent months signaled support for efforts aimed at ending the group’s decades-long insurgency.
The case is based on allegations that the CHP and pro-Kurdish political actors informally coordinated candidate selection in some cities to avoid splitting the opposition vote, an approach prosecutors describe as an “urban consensus” and portray as covert cooperation with the PKK.
Özer has denied the accusations. In his defense he said the alleged coordination amounted to lawful political activity and that there was no evidence linking him to the PKK.
Özer, an ethnic Kurd, was detained on October 30, 2024, as part of a broader investigation into the alleged “urban consensus” strategy and spent months in jail before being released pending trial in July 2025.
Speaking in court before the ruling, Özer said he had never been involved with any militant organization and described his months in pretrial detention as a difficult personal ordeal.
“I have spent my entire life opposing violence and advocating for peaceful coexistence,” he said.
Defense attorney Hüseyin Ersöz criticized the verdict, saying the case relied on speculation rather than concrete evidence. He said prosecutors relied on selective quotations attributed to PKK figures to support a theory that the group “infiltrated” municipalities through the so-called urban consensus, and argued that there was no evidence of any secret agreement or coordination directed by the terrorist organization.
The hearing was held at the Marmara Prison complex in Silivri and was attended by Özer’s family, rank-and-file members of the CHP and party leader Özgür Özel.
Turkey has frequently used its sweeping counterterrorism laws to prosecute politicians, journalists and activists, particularly in cases involving Kurdish political movements. Rights groups say the laws are often applied broadly to criminalize political activity, a claim the government rejects.
Özer, a university professor, was elected mayor of Esenyurt in March 2024 with 49 percent of the vote. His candidacy was also backed by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party). Esenyurt is Turkey’s most densely populated district, home to nearly 1 million people.
Following Özer’s arrest, İstanbul Deputy Governor Can Aksoy was appointed as a government trustee to serve in his place. His removal triggered protests and widespread criticism, with opposition figures calling it a violation of the democratic process and politically motivated.
His party, the CHP, has faced mounting legal pressure in recent months.
The CHP described 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 in 2025.
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 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).
