Turkey refers Istanbul district mayor, 47 others to court amid crackdown on main opposition

Hasan Mutlu, the mayor of Istanbul’s Bayrampaşa district, and 47 others were referred to court on Monday as part of a crackdown targeting the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Turkish media reported.

The detentions began on the morning of September 13, according to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which said the investigation involves allegations of extortion, bribery, aggravated fraud and rigging public tenders.

Mutlu, elected mayor in March 2024, was among those taken into custody. Following his detention, he wrote on X: “I stand tall. I have done nothing I can’t account for.” He later denounced the probe as a political operation, saying he was targeted for bringing services to Bayrampaşa after decades of neglect.

Mutlu’s deputies — Atilla Özen, Hakan Baş, Lütfi Kadıoğulları and Gündüz Kalkan — were also sent to court.

With Bayrampaşa, the number of CHP-led district municipalities in Istanbul facing corruption or zoning-related probes has risen to 11.

CHP leader Özgür Özel said in a September 13 press conference in Istanbul that the authorities were trying to “seize” control of the Bayrampaşa Municipality. He claimed the probe began after residents whose illegal buildings were demolished blamed the mayor and his team.

“Instead of targeting people who built without permits, they are turning them into informants and slanderers to attack us,” Özel said.

CHP parliamentary group leader Ali Mahir Başarır also criticized the operation, writing on X that “using the law as a weapon against elected officials is a declaration of war on the people’s will,” adding, “You have made dawn raids against elected mayors routine.”

Mutlu won Bayrampaşa in the 2024 local elections with 46.67 percent of the vote, defeating the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidate, who received 41 percent.

The Bayrampaşa probe is the latest in a series of investigations into CHP mayors in Istanbul. In March Şişli District Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan was arrested on terrorism charges under a separate probe. Six months later prosecutors sought another arrest warrant for him in a corruption case. He remains jailed in Silivri Prison on charges of membership in a criminal organization and extortion.

Eleven Republican People’s Party (CHP) district mayors in Istanbul are jailed, along with Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. The jailed district mayors are Beyoğlu Mayor İnan Güney, Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer, Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan, Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat, Beykoz Mayor Alaattin Köseler, Beylikdüzü Mayor Mehmet Murat Çalık, Büyükçekmece Mayor Hasan Akgün, Gaziosmanpaşa Mayor Hakan Bahçetepe, Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara, Şile Mayor Özgür Kabadayı and Bayrampaşa Mayor Hasan Mutlu.

The main opposition CHP has been under mounting government pressure since October 2024.

More than 500 people linked to the party or the İstanbul Municipality have been detained or arrested since March.

The party and its supporters say the operations targeting the CHP are designed to neutralize elected officials and sideline opposition leaders after the party’s gains in the March 2024 local elections.