Turkish police detained Onursal Adıgüzel, mayor of İstanbul’s Ataşehir district, three deputy mayors and 14 others in an overnight operation as part of an ongoing crackdown that has hit a growing number of municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Turkish Minute reported.
Prosecutors said the investigation concerns alleged bribery, bid rigging and forming a criminal group tied to building permit and occupancy permit procedures in Ataşehir, a CHP-run district on İstanbul’s Asian side.
The İstanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said it opened the investigation after receiving allegations that municipal officials took bribes in exchange for construction and occupancy permits. Prosecutors said financial crime investigators reviewed financial records and phone data and gathered witness statements before carrying out searches at 45 locations on April 17 and seizing digital material.
Adıgüzel denied wrongdoing in a message posted on social media, saying the accusations were political and amounted to a smear campaign. CHP officials also denounced the operation as political, with party spokesperson Zeynel Emre and deputy chair Burhanettin Bulut saying the detention targeted the will of the voters and elected officials.
The operation is the latest in an expanding legal campaign against CHP-run municipalities following the party’s strong performance in the March 2024 local elections.
Since the operations began in October 2024, 22 CHP mayors have been arrested, with two later released, while 20 remain jailed.
The most prominent target of the crackdown has been İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest political rival. İmamoğlu’s main corruption trial began in March 2026, nearly a year after he was jailed pending trial, in a case he and the CHP say is politically motivated.
