At least 45 elected mayors and co-mayors in 44 Turkish municipalities have been jailed, suspended from office or replaced by government-appointed trustees since the March 2024 local elections, BBC Turkish service reported.
Thirty-four of the affected municipalities were controlled by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and 10 by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party).
Many CHP mayors were detained or jailed in corruption investigations involving allegations such as bribery, extortion, bid-rigging and abuse of office. The mayors have denied wrongdoing and say the cases are politically motivated. DEM Party mayors have mostly been removed over terrorism-related convictions or investigations, a practice the party says is aimed at weakening Kurdish political representation.
Turkey’s government says the removals are legal measures based on criminal investigations, court rulings or security concerns. Opposition parties say the practice undermines local democracy by removing elected officials before final judicial outcomes or replacing them with unelected state officials.
The arrests, removals and trustee appointments followed Turkey’s March 31, 2024, local elections, in which the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) won 37.8 percent of the vote nationwide, ahead of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which received 35.5 percent. The result marked the first time since 1977 that the CHP finished first in a nationwide election. It was also the first time since the AKP was founded in 2001 that Erdoğan’s party finished second in a national vote. The CHP also won Turkey’s three largest cities — Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir — and took control of 35 of the country’s 81 provinces.
The most prominent case is that of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, one of Erdoğan’s strongest political rivals. İmamoğlu was arrested on corruption charges on March 23, 2025, the same day the CHP selected him in a party primary as its candidate for the next presidential election. He denies the charges. Istanbul’s city council later elected CHP member Nuri Aslan as acting mayor.
Several Istanbul district mayors have also been targeted. The mayors of Beşiktaş, Beykoz, Beylikdüzü, Büyükçekmece, Gaziosmanpaşa, Ataşehir, Silivri and Adalar were jailed in separate investigations, many involving corruption or organized-crime allegations. In Esenyurt and Şişli, CHP mayors were removed in terrorism-related cases and replaced by state-appointed officials.
The Interior Ministry has also removed or suspended mayors in major opposition-held provinces outside Istanbul. Adana Mayor Zeydan Karalar was detained on July 5, 2025, and jailed three days later after being accused of receiving improper financial benefits from companies doing business with the municipality. Karalar denied the accusation. He was released on February 5, 2026, but had not been reinstated as of June 25.
In the same investigation Adıyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere was detained and put under house arrest before judicial supervision was lifted and he was reinstated. Antalya Mayor Muhittin Böcek was detained and jailed in July 2025 in the same case.
Other CHP mayors removed or jailed include Bursa Mayor Mustafa Bozbey, Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan, Uşak Mayor Özkan Yalım, Kuşadası Mayor Ömer Günel and several district mayors in Adana, Izmir, Mersin and other provinces. In some cases city councils elected CHP members as acting mayors. In others, AKP council members won acting mayor posts after the removals.
The DEM Party has faced a separate wave of removals, mostly through trustee appointments. Under the system the Interior Ministry removes an elected mayor and appoints a governor or district governor to run the municipality.
The first post-election trustee appointment came in June 2024 in Hakkari, where DEM Party Co-mayor Mehmet Sıddık Akış was removed and replaced by the provincial governor. Akış was later sentenced to 19-and-a-half years in prison on charges including leading an armed terrorist organization, membership in an armed terrorist organization and disseminating terrorist propaganda.
Turkish authorities frequently accuse Kurdish politicians, including mayors and lawmakers, of links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant group designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
On November 4, 2024, the Interior Ministry removed DEM Party mayors in Batman, Mardin and Halfeti, a district in Şanlıurfa province, citing terrorism-related convictions and investigations. Batman Mayor Gülistan Sönük, Mardin Mayor Ahmet Türk and Halfeti Mayor Mehmet Karayılan were replaced by state-appointed trustees.
Further trustee appointments followed in Tunceli, Van, Siirt, Akdeniz in Mersin province, Bahçesaray in Van province and Kağızman in Kars province. In Van, Mayor Abdullah Zeydan was removed after receiving a prison sentence in a terrorism-related case, and the provincial governor was appointed in his place.
