Thirteen people, including current and former officials of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, were detained Tuesday in a corruption investigation into spending on concerts organized by the municipality, run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Turkish Minute reported.
The Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office claimed in a statement on Tuesday that 32 cultural events held between 2021 and 2024 caused a loss to the city of about 154 million lira ($3.7 million).
The suspects were taken into custody on allegations of misconduct and bid rigging based on findings by the Interior Ministry, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board and the Court of Accounts, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The detainees include former and current directors of the municipality’s culture department as well as executives from private event-organizing companies. Prosecutors said police operations were ongoing.
The municipality released a statement on Tuesday that criticized the raids, arguing that officials could have been invited to give testimony without detention. It said the case was being portrayed publicly as an “operation against Ankara city hall” and insisted that the municipality’s accounts were regularly reviewed by the Court of Accounts without any irregularities being found.
The municipality also noted that stage construction and sound systems make up the largest share of concert costs, not artists’ fees, and said price comparisons with other large events would show whether any financial loss occurred. It contrasted its spending with the previous city administration when it was run by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), saying that between 2014 and 2019, $33 million was spent on 80 events, while from 2019 until October 2024, $30 million was spent on 426 events.
Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, who was re-elected in March with more than 60 percent of the vote and is considered a potential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2028, defended the municipality.
He told journalist Ünsal Ünlü that earlier inspections by state auditors had found no financial loss. “Now they are trying to take it in a completely different direction by bringing in claims of bid rigging,” he said.
The investigation is the latest in a series of legal cases targeting opposition-led municipalities since last year’s local elections, when the CHP scored major victories over Erdoğan’s ruling party.
Tuesday’s operation came hours after former Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek of the AKP posted on X that a “billion-lira fraud” was about to erupt in the capital.
CHP lawmakers said the timing showed political interference and leaks from within the judiciary.
Gökhan Günaydın, the party’s parliamentary group deputy chair, said those responsible for corruption in the past appeared to have had advance knowledge of the raid, while today’s municipal officials were being targeted. He claimed that Ankara had been “sold piece by piece for a quarter century” under earlier administrations, yet no investigations were launched before 2019. “Hands off the municipality,” he said.
Gökçek served as mayor from 1994 to 2017, first with Islamist parties and later with the AKP. He has long faced opposition accusations of corruption and misconduct, though those claims were never investigated.
Mahmut Tanal, a CHP lawmaker from Şanlıurfa, said the probe violated rules requiring investigations to remain confidential. He noted that details had surfaced on social media hours before any official statement, calling it evidence that judicial information was leaked, turned into political propaganda and used to undermine judicial independence.
“This is a blow to impartiality,” he said, adding that in a true state of law, judicial decisions should come from the courts rather than politicians.
