An İstanbul court on Friday jailed Sinem Dedetaş, the first female mayor of the city’s Üsküdar district who ended 30 years of Islamist-based rule, and three others pending trial in a corruption investigation, the latest step in a legal crackdown on municipalities run by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s opponents.
Dedetaş, 45, mayoral chief of staff Alihan Koçoğlu, architect Burçin Çevik and contractor Bülent Orhan Tozkoparan were arrested on charges of bribery, extortion through abuse of office and establishing and leading a criminal organization.
Deputy Mayor Ceyhun Ünlü and business intermediary Adem Altıntaş were released under judicial supervision and barred from leaving the country. All six had been detained in simultaneous raids on Wednesday.
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.
According to the prosecutor’s office, employees of Kent AŞ, a company owned by the Üsküdar Municipality, allegedly coordinated the issuance of construction permits despite having no legal authority to do so.
Prosecutors alleged that Kent AŞ employees used an encrypted, closed-loop email network and color-coded spreadsheets identifying individual blocks and parcels to instruct municipal personnel and manage the permit process.
The investigation had previously led to the pretrial detention of 16 people in two operations in May, according to the reports.
As Dedetaş was being taken to the courthouse on Thursday, a message posted on her Instagram account called on citizens to defend their political will.
“Let my composure be your voice,” she said. “Every citizen should take responsibility like a leader and defend their own free will and their republic.”
“As a woman of the republic, I stand tall. I am not afraid.”
The Üsküdar Municipality urged the public not to draw conclusions before the investigation was completed, citing the presumption of innocence.
The municipality described Dedetaş’s administration as transparent, participatory and socially oriented, with an emphasis on providing equal services to residents.
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 arrest 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.
Her arrest means that 16 of the 27 mayors elected by the CHP in İstanbul in March 2024 — the metropolitan mayor and 26 district mayors — have now been jailed in criminal investigations. Fourteen remain in pretrial detention, while two who were released have not been reinstated.
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 claims Turkey’s judiciary operates independently.
