{"id":161077,"date":"2026-09-07T10:50:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/161077\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T10:50:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:50:30","slug":"12-detained-in-new-probe-targeting-main-opposition-run-istanbul-municipality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/161077\/","title":{"rendered":"12 detained in new probe targeting main opposition-run Istanbul municipality\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Turkish police detained 12 people Thursday in a new corruption investigation targeting the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the local government formerly headed by suspended and jailed Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu, President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s main political rival, the TR724 news website reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office said the investigation concerns allegations of bid-rigging and financial losses to the public involving municipal tenders, including purchases for the Istanbul mayoral residence.<\/p>\n

Those detained include Mustafa S\u00f6kmen, head of the municipality\u2019s procurement department; Ali Toy, a branch manager responsible for the city\u2019s subsidized Kent Lokantalar\u0131 restaurants; former finance department head Neslihan Vural; and municipal police official G\u00f6khan F\u0131rt\u0131na.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors ordered the detention of 14 suspects. Twelve were detained in Thursday\u2019s operation, while one was already in jail in connection with another case and another was abroad, according to Turkish media reports.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor\u2019s office said the allegations were based on a preliminary report prepared by inspectors from the Interior Ministry and reports by court-appointed experts. It said the investigation was part of a broader case in which prosecutors accuse \u0130mamo\u011flu of leading a criminal organization. \u0130mamo\u011flu denies the corruption allegations against him.<\/p>\n

\u0130mamo\u011flu has been jailed since March 2025 and faces a series of criminal cases. His detention sparked Turkey\u2019s largest anti-government protests in more than a decade and intensified concerns among opposition parties and rights groups that the judiciary is being used to sideline Erdo\u011fan\u2019s political opponents. The government denies those accusations and claims the courts operate independently.<\/p>\n

\u0130mamo\u011flu, who defeated Erdo\u011fan\u2019s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul\u2019s 2019 mayoral election and won re-election in 2024, remains the opposition\u2019s most prominent potential challenger to Erdo\u011fan in a presidential election.<\/p>\n

He left the Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) in August and joined the newly established New Party after a court removed CHP leader \u00d6zg\u00fcr \u00d6zel and reinstated former chairman Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu. The New Party was formed by \u00d6zel and dozens of lawmakers who broke off from the CHP and is now the main opposition party in the Turkish Parliament.<\/p>\n

The latest detentions are part of a series of investigations targeting opposition-run municipalities since the CHP made major gains in the 2024 local elections. Hundreds of opposition politicians and municipal officials have been detained or prosecuted, while several elected mayors have been removed from office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turkish police detained 12 people Thursday in a new corruption investigation targeting the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the local…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[83],"tags":[422,423,425,25126,426,312,12293,67172,71419,427,428,429,3579,431,131,132,155,38402],"class_list":["post-161077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-stockholm","tag-ak-party","tag-akp","tag-democracy","tag-ekrem-imamoglu","tag-erdogan","tag-human-rights","tag-istanbul","tag-istanbul-chief-public-prosecutors-office","tag-istanbul-metropolitan-municipality","tag-justice","tag-law","tag-oppression","tag-recep-tayyip-erdogan","tag-rule-of-law","tag-stockholm","tag-sweden","tag-turkey","tag-turkish-police"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117229376740999390","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161077","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=161077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}