Turkish police on Wednesday detained Sinem Dedetaş, the first female mayor of İstanbul’s Üsküdar district who ended 30 years of Islamist-based rule, and five others in a corruption investigation, the latest step in a legal crackdown on municipalities run by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s opponents, Turkish Minute reported.
Police carried out simultaneous raids at 11 locations across İstanbul, seizing digital materials, according to Turkish media reports.
Dedetaş was detained along with Deputy Mayor Ceyhun Ünlü, mayoral chief of staff Alihan Koçoğlu, architect Burçin Çevik, business intermediary Adem Altıntaş and contractor Bülent Orhan Tozkoparan, the reports said.
The İstanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the investigation concerns allegations of bribery, extortion through abuse of office and establishing and leading a criminal organization in connection with the issuance of construction and occupancy permits.
The investigation had previously led to the pretrial detention of 16 people in two operations in May, according to the reports.
İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been jailed since March 2025, condemned Dedetaş’s detention in a statement posted on his presidential campaign office’s social media account.
“The mentality targeting the will of the people through unlawful dawn operations has lost hope in the ballot box and is trying to cling to power through the judiciary,” the statement said. “But rest assured, our 86 million citizens are counting the days until they send you away.”
Dedetaş was elected mayor in the March 2024 local elections with 49.9 percent of the vote, defeating incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP) Mayor Hilmi Türkmen, who received 42.3 percent.
Her victory ended 30 years of uninterrupted rule by Islamist-based parties in Üsküdar, beginning with the Welfare Party in 1994 and continuing under its political successors and the AKP.
Long considered a conservative stronghold, the district is also home to President Erdoğan’s private residence. Dedetaş became Üsküdar’s first female mayor.
The European Democrats also condemned Dedetaş’s detention, describing it as part of an ongoing campaign against Turkey’s democratic opposition.
“Sinem Dedetaş … did not lose at the ballot box. She won,” the party said on X, adding that support for jailed İstanbul Mayor İmamoğlu and calls for democratic change had become grounds for political targeting.
The group said elected mayors were being removed through politically motivated investigations and urged Europe not to remain silent.
Dedetaş’s detention is the latest in a series of investigations targeting Republican People’s Party (CHP)-run municipalities since the party made sweeping gains in the March 2024 local elections.
The opposition says the investigations are politically motivated and intended to weaken the CHP and remove elected officials who could challenge Erdoğan’s government. The government denies political interference and clais Turkey’s judiciary operates independently.
