Turkish police detained 12 people Thursday in a new corruption investigation targeting the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the local government formerly headed by suspended and jailed Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival, the TR724 news website reported.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the investigation concerns allegations of bid-rigging and financial losses to the public involving municipal tenders, including purchases for the Istanbul mayoral residence.
Those detained include Mustafa Sökmen, head of the municipality’s procurement department; Ali Toy, a branch manager responsible for the city’s subsidized Kent Lokantaları restaurants; former finance department head Neslihan Vural; and municipal police official Gökhan Fırtına.
Prosecutors ordered the detention of 14 suspects. Twelve were detained in Thursday’s operation, while one was already in jail in connection with another case and another was abroad, according to Turkish media reports.
The prosecutor’s office said the allegations were based on a preliminary report prepared by inspectors from the Interior Ministry and reports by court-appointed experts. It said the investigation was part of a broader case in which prosecutors accuse İmamoğlu of leading a criminal organization. İmamoğlu denies the corruption allegations against him.
İmamoğlu has been jailed since March 2025 and faces a series of criminal cases. His detention sparked Turkey’s largest anti-government protests in more than a decade and intensified concerns among opposition parties and rights groups that the judiciary is being used to sideline Erdoğan’s political opponents. The government denies those accusations and claims the courts operate independently.
İmamoğlu, who defeated Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul’s 2019 mayoral election and won re-election in 2024, remains the opposition’s most prominent potential challenger to Erdoğan in a presidential election.
He left the Republican People’s Party (CHP) in August and joined the newly established New Party after a court removed CHP leader Özgür Özel and reinstated former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The New Party was formed by Özel and dozens of lawmakers who broke off from the CHP and is now the main opposition party in the Turkish Parliament.
The latest detentions are part of a series of investigations targeting opposition-run municipalities since the CHP made major gains in the 2024 local elections. Hundreds of opposition politicians and municipal officials have been detained or prosecuted, while several elected mayors have been removed from office.
