Turkey’s Interior Ministry on Thursday removed a district mayor in the western province of İzmir from office after he was arrested 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 Anka news agency.
Mustafa Günay, the CHP mayor of the Güzelbahçe district, and Özgür Bayraktar, the municipality’s zoning and urban planning director, were arrested by a court late Tuesday after being detained in an investigation overseen by the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The ministry said Günay was suspended from office as a temporary measure following his arrest, citing the constitution and Turkey’s law on municipalities.
According to the ministry, Günay is under investigation on accusations of establishing or membership in a criminal organization, bribery, abuse of office, violations of zoning and coastal laws, causing zoning pollution and falsifying official documents.
Günay and Bayraktar were among five people detained earlier this week as part of the investigation.
Günay’s wife, Nermin Günay; former Güzelbahçe mayor Özdem Mustafa İnce; and municipal official Sezgin Kuş were released under judicial supervision.
The investigation file reportedly includes witness statements alleging bribery links involving some companies and contractors.
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, drawing criticism from rights groups and opposition figures who said it marked a serious escalation in pressure on Turkey’s largest opposition party.
Günay’s arrest and removal from office come 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.
