Footage showing opposition mayors and İstanbul city officials being led single file in handcuffs by police has attracted backlash from the main opposition party and critics, who called the treatment degrading and unlawful, Turkish Minute reported.
The video was taken on Tuesday during the transfer of 36 detainees, including district mayors and senior municipal officials from İstanbul and Adana, to the İstanbul Courthouse as part of a sweeping corruption investigation targeting the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
The images showed police escorting the detainees through hospital and courthouse corridors while media cameras recorded them walking in a line, sparking comparisons to similar footage from the 2009 mass detentions of Kurdish politicians on terrorism-related charges as well as mass detentions that followed Turkey’s failed 2016 coup.
The detentions are part of what Turkish authorities have described as four separate corruption probes involving İstanbul city hall, launched after the March 19 detention and subsequent arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is widely seen as the strongest rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
CHP members condemned the treatment of the detainees, many of whom were elected officials, accusing the government of staging a “perp walk” to publicly humiliate them before any court ruling.
CHP Chairman Özgür Özel likened the images to propaganda footage from the aftermath of Turkey’s 1960 military coup, when the deposed ruling party was paraded as criminals in the infamous coup trials.
“This is a scene we have seen before,” Özel said at a parliamentary group meeting, recalling how ousted president Celal Bayar attempted suicide after being publicly shamed during the proceedings.
CHP Deputy Chair Burhanettin Bulut called the images “a blatant violation of the presumption of innocence” and said such scenes had “never been seen in the history of the republic.”
“This is enemy law, not justice,” Bulut said in a statement posted on social media.
Other CHP officials said the images recalled past state crackdowns on pro-Kurdish parties, noting that such displays were used in previous years to delegitimize political opponents through public spectacle.
CHP group deputy chair Murat Emir asked whether the same treatment was applied to organized crime suspects, saying, “Which mafia leaders have you filmed and published like this?”
CHP lawmaker Mahmut Tanal said the footage violated the constitutional right to a fair trial and Turkey’s penal code provisions on the confidentiality of criminal investigations.
Tanal urged prosecutors and the Justice Ministry to take immediate action against those responsible for releasing the images to the press.
He said the broadcast of such footage undermines local democracy and disrespects voters who elected the detained officials.
Legal scholars and rights advocates also condemned the spectacle, including Professor Adem Sözüer, who warned that showcasing unconvicted suspects violates both domestic law and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Even pro-government voices criticized the visuals, with former Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmaker Şamil Tayyar saying the public exposure of detainees “does not belong in the new Turkey” and is at odds with the government’s earlier reforms on due process.
CHP’s reaction, however, drew criticism from some activists and legal observers who pointed to the party’s muted stance during mass detentions following the failed 2016 coup attempt.
“Where was this outrage when lawyers, judges and even housewives were dragged out of homes in Kayseri or Mersin without due process?” tweeted lawyer Ali Yıldız, referencing operations that targeted alleged Gülen movement affiliates.
The CHP condemned the coup attempt but largely refrained from opposing the mass purges that followed, which saw over 100,000 people removed from public service and tens of thousands jailed, often without concrete evidence.
Critics say the party’s failure to speak out then undermines its current claims of victimhood and exposes a pattern of selective outrage based on political affiliation.
The backlash comes amid ongoing operations against CHP-run municipalities, with nine district mayors now in custody and dozens of staff from İstanbul city hall under investigation.
Critics say the operations are politically motivated and part of a broader strategy to dismantle opposition control of İstanbul, Turkey’s largest and most politically significant city.
