Turkish gendarmes on Tuesday detained the mayor of İzmir’s Güzelbahçe district and four other people as part of an investigation into alleged corruption and zoning violations, in the latest operation targeting municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Turkish Minute reported, citing the DHA news agency.
Mustafa Günay, the CHP mayor of Güzelbahçe, was detained along with his wife, Nermin Günay; former Güzelbahçe mayor Özdem Mustafa İnce; the municipality’s zoning director; and another person, according to DHA.
The detainees were taken to the İzmir Provincial Gendarmerie Command after undergoing medical checks.
The İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the suspects are accused of “establishing a criminal organization,” “bribery,” “abuse of office” and “violating zoning laws.”
Two other people sought as part of the investigation were reportedly abroad.
Günay previously held various positions in the CHP’s Güzelbahçe district branch and served as deputy mayor of Güzelbahçe from 2010 to 2023.
He was elected mayor in the March 31, 2024, local elections, his first run for the post, receiving about 50 percent of the vote.
Günay was known as a supporter of Özgür Özel, who was removed as CHP chairman by a court decision last week that annulled the party’s 2023 congress and reinstated former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and his team.
The May 21 ruling by an Ankara regional appeals court removed Özel and the party’s current leadership as an interim measure, a decision that drew criticism from rights groups and opposition figures who said it marked a serious escalation in pressure on Turkey’s largest opposition party.
CHP Güzelbahçe district chairman Devrim Seyrek said he spoke with Günay at his home with the permission of gendarmes before the mayor was taken away.
“The only thing he said was, ‘Our chairman is coming to İzmir today. Don’t leave him alone. You will be there,’” Seyrek said, referring to Özel. “We know very well what the process that started in İstanbul has come to.”
Özel was expected to address a rally at İzmir’s Cumhuriyet Square at noon on Tuesday.
The detention comes amid an ongoing crackdown on the CHP following its sweeping victory over President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the March 2024 local elections.
Rights groups and opposition politicians say the judiciary has been used to weaken the CHP through criminal investigations, detentions, arrests and removals of elected mayors, while the government insists the courts act independently.
The pressure on the party has intensified since the arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, widely seen as Erdoğan’s strongest political rival, in March 2025 on corruption charges he denies.
The CHP says the investigations targeting its municipalities are politically motivated and aimed at rolling back the opposition’s local election gains.
