Today, the Turkish judiciary has ordered the imprisonment of five mayors from the social democratic Republican People’s Party (CHP), which is the main opposition group. Three of these mayors head municipal wards in Istanbul, as reported by a CHP spokesperson to the French News Agency.
Additionally, seventeen other individuals, including deputy mayors from Istanbul’s wards, were arrested over the weekend and placed under temporary detention on charges of “corruption.”
Since late March, Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, has been imprisoned. Eight ward mayors associated with the CHP have been detained since late October.
Analysts suggest that the government is trying to undermine the CHP, especially after it secured victories in the spring 2024 local elections against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP).
In those elections, the CHP retained control of Turkey’s three largest cities—Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir—and gained ground in more conservative provinces, winning 26 out of 39 municipalities in Istanbul, the country’s economic hub.
The arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu on March 19, viewed as Erdogan’s most significant rival, sparked significant controversy throughout the nation.
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