Turkish police on Tuesday detained 10 senior officials from nine district municipalities in İstanbul, most of which are run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), on terrorism-related charges, expanding an ongoing crackdown on the party, Turkish Minute reported.
Among the detainees are the deputy mayors of the Kartal and Ataşehir districts as well as eight city council members, all affiliated with the CHP. They are accused of recruiting members or sympathizers of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) under the guise of an election strategy adopted by Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party.
This strategy, referred to as the “urban consensus model,” refers to the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party’s (DEM Party) approach to candidate selection in Turkey’s western cities in preparation for the March 31, 2024 local elections.
The party aimed to engage a wide range of community stakeholders, not just its members, by forming alliances with other political parties as part of this strategy. The DEM Party supported mayoral candidates whose nominations were decided in consensus with other parties. In some areas certain CHP candidates were elected with the backing of the DEM Party.
According to the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is leading the investigation, the goal of the urban consensus model was to ensure that Kurds have a voice in city council decisions, to encourage their participation in local government and to create a political balance in western provinces and districts. This was in exchange for support for a candidate, even if they were unlikely to win the municipality.
Tuesday’s detentions follow a wave of investigations and arrests targeting CHP municipalities in İstanbul, as a result of which two party mayors from the Esenyurt and Beşiktaş districts were removed from office and arrested.
Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer, a Kurd who was elected from the ranks of the CHP with the support of the DEM Party last March, was arrested on October 30 on charges of membership in the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
Rıza Akpolat, the mayor of CHP stronghold Beşiktaş, was arrested last month as part of a bid-rigging investigation.
İstanbul’s popular Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu also recently saw the launch of two investigations into him for criticizing investigations targeting him and other mayors.
The CHP and government critics say the latest judicial actions targeting party members in İstanbul aim to discredit their party and İmamoğlu, seen as a potential future challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, along with other opposition figures in the city.
İmamoğlu blamed the detentions on Erdoğan, saying in a post on X that the move was the result of the “whims of one person who considers himself to be above the will of the people.”
Other senior CHP officials such Ali Mahir Başarır, Gökhan Günaydın and Burhan Bulut also condemned the detentions on X, accusing the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of attempting to design politics by using the judiciary and a conspiracy against the CHP due to what they said was declining support for the AKP. They vowed to fight back.
In last year’s local elections, the CHP emerged as the leading party for the first time in 47 years, securing 37.7 percent of the vote, maintaining control of key cities and securing substantial gains in other regions, while the AKP came in second, garnering only 35.4 percent.
The CHP’s election victory led to widespread concerns that Erdoğan might resort to measures that would hinder the operations of the opposition municipalities or discredit them in the eyes of the public in retaliation for his party’s election loss.
The government rejects allegations that it puts pressure on the courts, insisting the judiciary operates independently.
İmamoğlu faces several investigations and had already been sentenced to more than two years in prison and barred from politics in December 2022 for allegedly insulting members of Turkey’s Supreme Election Board (YSK). The mayor has appealed his sentence, which is still pending.
There are claims that Erdoğan wants to sideline İmamoğlu — the mostly likely candidate to challenge him if he tries to seek another term as president — with operations in CHP municipalities.
The 53-year-old İmamoğlu ended the yearslong AKP rule in İstanbul when he defeated the AKP’s mayoral candidate twice in the 2019 local elections. He won a rerun election by a larger margin than the first, which had been canceled due to supposed irregularities.
İmamoğlu was re-elected İstanbul mayor in the March 2024 local elections, again leaving the AKP candidate in the dust.
Over the past months CHP municipalities have also been hit with investigations on accusations of irregular spending and unpaid debts to the government.
Meanwhile, an indictment drafted by İstanbul prosecutors seeks a prison sentence of up to five years for Cem Aydın, head of the CHP youth branches, Turkish media outlets reported on Tuesday. Aydın was briefly detained last month after posting a video on X criticizing İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek, who is behind the investigations into the party.
Aydın is charged with “targeting public officials engaged in the fight against terrorism” and “threatening” the prosecutor.
