{"id":110397,"date":"2026-06-17T17:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T17:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/110397\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T17:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T17:51:16","slug":"15-detained-in-bribery-probe-into-chp-run-municipality-in-western-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/110397\/","title":{"rendered":"15 detained in bribery probe into CHP-run municipality in western Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/stockholmcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Pehlivan-Seferihisar-2.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"464\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- alt=\"\" title=\"Pehlivan - Seferihisar\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Pehlivan-Seferihisar-2-696x464.jpg\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"464\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Pehlivan-Seferihisar-2-696x464.jpg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"Pehlivan - Seferihisar\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Turkish police detained 15 people, including the deputy mayor of the main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP)-run Seferihisar Municipality in the western province of \u0130zmir, as part of a bribery investigation, <a href=\"https:\/\/turkishminute.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Turkish Minute<\/a> reported, citing the Bianet news website.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The operation, overseen by the \u0130zmir Chief Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office, was carried out simultaneously in \u0130zmir and one other province. The detainees include Deputy Mayor \u0130brahim G\u00f6khan Pehlivan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prosecutors said digital materials and documents belonging to the suspects were seized and that the investigation was continuing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pehlivan has served as Seferihisar deputy mayor, first deputy chair of the municipal council and CHP spokesperson in the district since 2024, according to the municipality\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The operation is the latest in a series of ongoing investigations targeting municipalities run by the CHP, which won many of Turkey\u2019s largest cities and several other municipalities in the 2024 local elections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday that Silivri Mayor Bora Balc\u0131o\u011flu, another CHP mayor, had been temporarily removed from office after he was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.turkishminute.com\/2026\/06\/16\/turkey-arrests-another-opposition-mayor-as-probes-into-chp-run-municipalities-continue\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">arrested<\/a>\u00a0as part of a separate investigation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ministry said in a statement on X that Balc\u0131o\u011flu had been suspended after prosecutors launched an investigation into him on charges of establishing and leading a criminal organization, receiving bribes and laundering assets obtained through crime.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Balc\u0131o\u011flu, the mayor of \u0130stanbul\u2019s Silivri district, was arrested earlier this week along with nine others as part of a corruption investigation into the opposition-run district municipality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He has denied wrongdoing and described the case as a political operation targeting the will of Silivri voters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The CHP says the investigations are part of an ongoing effort to criminalize opposition-run local governments and weaken the party before future elections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The government denies political interference and says the judiciary acts independently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turkish police detained 15 people, including the deputy mayor of the main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP)-run Seferihisar&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[83],"tags":[55762,2031,425,50354,429,430,55763,55764,131,132,155],"class_list":["post-110397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-stockholm","tag-bora-balcioglu","tag-crackdown-on-opposition","tag-democracy","tag-izmir","tag-oppression","tag-republican-peoples-party-chp","tag-seferihisar-municipality","tag-silivri-municipality","tag-stockholm","tag-sweden","tag-turkey"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116766722628258283","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}