An Istanbul prosecutor on Saturday ordered the arrest of 48 members of the Bayrampasa municipality, an opposition-run district of the city, including the mayor, on charges of “corruption,” the state news agency Anadolu reported.
Mayor Hasan Mutlu, a member of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP, social democratic), and his deputy, Lutfi Kadiogullari, were detained Saturday morning on accusations of “extortion, corruption, aggravated fraud, and bid rigging,” while a search was carried out at the municipality, according to private broadcaster NTV.
“Bayrampasa’s residents elected Hasan Mutlu. But they couldn’t tolerate him. They respect neither the election results nor the ballot boxes nor the will of the people,” reacted CHP’s Istanbul leader, Ozgur Celik, on X. Celik himself was dismissed on September 2 by a Turkish court over alleged irregularities during the 2023 congress that elected him.
The CHP has been facing growing judicial pressure, with a wave of investigations and arrests targeting its elected officials on corruption allegations, including in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, whose mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, has been jailed since March.
AFP
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