{"id":142154,"date":"2026-08-07T16:39:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T16:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/142154\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T16:39:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T16:39:12","slug":"15-detained-in-probe-targeting-opposition-municipality-new-party-mps-relatives-among-those-sought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/142154\/","title":{"rendered":"15 detained in probe targeting opposition municipality, New Party MP\u2019s relatives among those sought"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Turkish authorities detained 15 people on Friday in a third phase of a corruption investigation targeting the opposition-run Ku\u015fadas\u0131 Municipality, while prosecutors issued detention warrants for 21 suspects, including the daughter and son-in-law of New Party MP B\u00fclent Tezcan, Turkish Minute <\/a>reported.<\/p>\n

The operation, carried out simultaneously in Ayd\u0131n, \u0130zmir and Antalya provinces, is part of an investigation led by the \u0130stanbul Chief Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office into allegations of bribery and extortion involving the municipality.<\/p>\n

Among those detained were Ku\u015fadas\u0131 Municipality Chief of Staff \u015eebnem Kars \u015eenol, former deputy mayor O\u011fuzhan Turan and city council member Ali Kotan. Prosecutors also issued detention warrants for lawyer Ezgi Tezcan Ya\u015far, Tezcan\u2019s daughter, and her husband, lawyer Umut Ya\u015far.<\/p>\n

According to prosecutors, the investigation is based on witness testimony, statements made by suspects under Turkey\u2019s effective remorse provisions, telephone traffic records and reports from the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), which prosecutors said together established reasonable suspicion that bribery and extortion offenses had been committed.<\/p>\n

Authorities said 15 of the 21 suspects had been detained, while prosecutors said operations to apprehend the remaining suspects were continuing.<\/p>\n

Speaking to journalist \u0130smail Saymaz, Tezcan said his daughter and son-in-law, both attorneys at law, were abroad on vacation and would return to Turkey as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have nothing to fear or be concerned about,\u201d Tezcan said, adding that the two lawyers represent jailed Ku\u015fadas\u0131 Mayor \u00d6mer G\u00fcnel and had been targeted for weeks.<\/p>\n

The latest operation follows earlier phases of the investigation launched in March that resulted in the\u00a0arrest<\/a>\u00a0of G\u00fcnel on charges of bribery and corruption, which he denies.<\/p>\n

Tezcan is one of the founding lawmakers of the New Party,\u00a0established<\/a>\u00a0on July 24 after ousted Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) leader \u00d6zg\u00fcr \u00d6zel and 90 other lawmakers resigned from the CHP following a Turkish appeals court ruling in May that annulled the party\u2019s 2023 leadership congress and reinstated former chairman Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu.<\/p>\n

The ruling ended months of litigation over allegations of vote-buying at the congress that brought \u00d6zel to CHP leadership. \u00d6zel and his allies rejected the decision as judicial interference in opposition politics and formed the New Party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turkish authorities detained 15 people on Friday in a third phase of a corruption investigation targeting the opposition-run…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[83],"tags":[68130,28725,2031,425,68131,68132,65987,68133,22494,429,430,68134,131,132,32561,155],"class_list":["post-142154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-stockholm","tag-ali-kotan","tag-bulent-tezcan","tag-crackdown-on-opposition","tag-democracy","tag-ezgi-tezcan-yasar","tag-kusadasi-municipality","tag-new-party","tag-oguzhan-turan","tag-omer-gunel","tag-oppression","tag-republican-peoples-party-chp","tag-sebnem-kars-senol","tag-stockholm","tag-sweden","tag-the-financial-crimes-investigation-board-masak","tag-turkey"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117055217498030214","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142154","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=142154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}