Turkish authorities have detained five people in a new operation targeting İstanbul’s Beşiktaş Municipality, controlled by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), while courts have arrested 27 people in separate investigations into two other CHP-run municipalities, Turkish Minute reported.
The latest operation in Beşiktaş was carried out as part of an investigation by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into allegations of bribery and money laundering, according to the Euronews Turkish service.
The detainees include former Beşiktaş deputy mayor Cevdet Çalı, Beşiktaş Municipality personnel services manager Bülent Karakaş and CHP city council member İlker Uluer.
Prosecutors said police seized numerous digital materials as well as 90,000 US dollars and 5,000 euros believed to have been obtained through criminal activity.
The operation marked the latest judicial action involving the Beşiktaş Municipality, which was previously targeted in a separate investigation. The CHP’s Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat was detained on January 13, 2025, as part of an investigation into an alleged criminal organization led by Aziz İhsan Aktaş, a businessman accused of rigging municipal tenders by bribing mayors and senior municipal officials.
Akpolat was arrested a few days later on charges of membership in a criminal organization, bid rigging and unlawful acquisition of property and was removed from office the same day by the Interior Ministry.
Arrests in Eskişehir and Denizli
In the central province of Eskişehir, 15 people were arrested as part of an investigation targeting the CHP-run Tepebaşı Municipality after an operation on Thursday in which 25 people were detained.
The Eskişehir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the investigation concerns allegations including repeated embezzlement, forgery, violations of tax law, laundering criminal proceeds and abuse of office.
Prosecutors alleged that irregularities had been identified in some municipal tenders, particularly purchases made by the municipality’s Culture, Arts and Social Affairs Directorate through direct procurement. They claimed fake bids were used and invoices were issued for services that were either not provided or billed above market value.
Those arrested included Deputy Mayor Seyit Yıldızhan, chief of staff Özcan Erkaya, Director of Mukhtar Affairs Duygu Güzeloğlu and acting Social Services Director Murat Çevik, along with municipal personnel and private company officials. Ten other suspects were released under judicial supervision.
Euronews also reported that police found an underground room in the garden of Erkaya’s home containing nine cryptocurrency mining devices.
In the western province of Denizli, Deputy Mayor Emrah Karan was among 12 people arrested in a separate bribery and bid-rigging investigation targeting the CHP-run Merkezefendi Municipality, the DHA news agency reported.
The Denizli Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had issued detention warrants on May 15 for 13 people accused of taking bribes in municipal tender procedures. One suspect was released under judicial supervision.
Ankara Municipality fined over wastewater discharge
In a separate development, the Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry fined the CHP-run Ankara Metropolitan Municipality TL 1.68 million ($36,800) for allegedly discharging wastewater into Mogan Lake through a rainwater line.
The ministry said wastewater produced during bridge construction in the Hacılar neighborhood of Ankara’s Gölbaşı district had been connected to a rainwater line without treatment and discharged into the lake.
Since Mogan Lake is a special environmental protection zone, the ministry said the penalty was doubled and a criminal complaint was filed against those responsible.
Pressure on CHP-run municipalities
The operations are part of a broader wave of legal action targeting CHP-run municipalities since the party’s sweeping gains in the March 31, 2024, local elections.
Recent tallies in the Turkish media indicate that 23 CHP mayors have been jailed at some point since the elections, 20 remain in jail and 25 have been removed from office.
CHP officials say the investigations are politically motivated and are being used to roll back the party’s gains in the 2024 local elections, when it finished first nationwide for the first time since 1977 and won control of many of Turkey’s largest cities.
