Turkish authorities detained the mayor of Uşak along with 10 others on Friday as part of a bribery investigation, the latest move in an expanding legal campaign targeting municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Turkish Minute reported.
Özkan Yalım, the CHP mayor of Uşak in western Turkey, was taken into custody following simultaneous police raids in Uşak, Ankara and Kocaeli, carried out under an investigation led by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Police escorted the 11 detainees to headquarters for questioning, while Uşak city hall was sealed off by officers, with access restricted during the operation.
According to prosecutors, the investigation centers on allegations that municipal tenders were manipulated through inflated invoices, with the resulting funds collected as bribes. Officials are also accused of pressuring companies to grant business shares to relatives of the mayor in exchange for contracts as well as collecting large sums of money under the guise of donations, which were allegedly embezzled without official receipts.
The statement said some municipal expenditures, including spending at entertainment venues, were improperly charged to the municipal budget under official expense categories.
Investigators also cited findings from reports by Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), which indicated large unexplained transactions, including foreign transfers as well as discrepancies between declared income and observed financial activity. Prosecutors said these findings were supported by witness testimony and communication records.
Authorities further alleged that Yalım transferred all his assets in 2025 to his driver, identified as Cihan Aras, and appointed a woman, identified only by the initials A.A., with whom he allegedly had a romantic relationship, to a high-paying municipal position in 2024 despite not performing any actual duties.
Social media footage showing Yalım being detained in a hotel room in Ankara sparked sharp criticism from opposition figures, with reports suggesting he was taken into custody while in the room with a 21-year-old municipal employee identified as S.A.
CHP lawmaker Bülent Tezcan said the footage appeared to have been recorded under police supervision and accused authorities of deliberately circulating it.
“How can the state’s police distribute such footage? Are you conducting a criminal investigation or a campaign of character assassination?” Tezcan said.
The Uşak operation came hours after a separate probe targeting another CHP-run municipality in Marmaris, a district in Muğla province in southwestern Turkey, where 13 people, including a deputy mayor and several municipal officials, were detained over alleged bribery and irregularities in zoning and licensing procedures.
Prosecutors said suspects manipulated permit processes for hotels and businesses to obtain financial benefits. One municipal employee was reportedly caught accepting a $4,000 bribe during a police operation.
Searches were conducted at municipal offices as well as suspects’ homes and workplaces.
Marmaris Mayor Acar Ünlü said municipal operations would continue and expressed hope that the investigation would be concluded quickly.
Legal scrutiny extends to Ankara municipality
In a separate development a court in Ankara accepted an indictment of 10 people over alleged misconduct in procurement processes at the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, also governed by the CHP.
The case, based on a 2022 audit report and approved by the Interior Ministry, is scheduled to be heard at the Ankara 28th Criminal Court of First Instance, with the first hearing set for May 18.
The ministry earlier granted permission to investigate Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş and his chief of staff, Nevzat Uzunoğlu, over allegations of “abuse of office” and “neglect of supervisory duties” related to municipal concert spending.
Yavaş, a senior figure in the CHP who was re-elected in 2024 with more than 60 percent of the vote, is widely seen as a potential alternative presidential contender if İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is currently behind bars, is barred from running. He has previously denied wrongdoing and described similar investigations as politically motivated.
CHP leader condemns detentions, says opposition ‘under attack across the country’
CHP leader Özgür Özel said the opposition was “under attack across the country” as he addressed the Socialist International Youth Congress in İstanbul, pointing to ongoing investigations and operations targeting the party and its mayors.
“Just yesterday evening, our mayor in Uşak was detained. … Nineteen of our mayors are currently in prison,” Özel said.
“Turkey is witnessing a moment where the pressure is at its highest, but so is the resistance,” he added, referring to what he described as a growing backlash against the crackdown.
Özel said the party remained resilient despite the pressure, noting that it was still able to organize an international congress bringing together 250 young people from 150 countries around the world.
“We are standing strong. We are continuing both our struggle and the work we are responsible for,” he underlined.
The latest detentions come amid an intensifying legal campaign against the CHP following its sweeping victory in the March 2024 local elections, when the party won control of many major cities.
Since then, prosecutors have launched a series of investigations targeting opposition mayors and municipal officials, often on corruption-related charges that critics say are politically motivated. Courts have also invalidated CHP party congress results and replaced elected party officials with court-appointed administrators in multiple cities.
Earlier this month, another CHP mayor in western Turkey was arrested as part of a similar bribery and misconduct investigation, drawing strong reactions from opposition figures.
The most prominent case involves İmamoğlu, who was detained on March 19, 2025, days before CHP members selected him as their presidential candidate for a future election. He faces charges including leading a criminal organization, embezzlement, bid-rigging, bribery and espionage in an indictment that prosecutors say documents a decade-long criminal enterprise within the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
İmamoğlu, who first won the İstanbul mayoralty in 2019 after defeating President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s party in a historic upset, is widely regarded as the opposition’s strongest potential challenger to Erdoğan in the presidential election scheduled for 2028.
Opposition leaders say the legal cases are part of a broader strategy to weaken the CHP’s local power base and pressure its officials to defect to the ruling party. Over 60 opposition mayors have switched allegiance to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) over the past two years, a trend critics attribute to political pressure and intimidation.
