{"id":42192,"date":"2026-03-17T19:07:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/42192\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T19:07:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:07:32","slug":"opposition-district-mayor-among-5-arrested-in-bribery-investigation-in-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/42192\/","title":{"rendered":"Opposition district mayor among 5 arrested in bribery investigation in Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

A Turkish court has jailed the mayor of the western resort town of Ku\u015fadas\u0131 in Ayd\u0131n province and four others on bribery and extortion charges as part of an investigation led by the \u0130stanbul Chief Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office, Turkish Minute<\/a> reported, citing the Anka news agency.<\/p>\n

Mayor \u00d6mer G\u00fcnel of the main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) was arrested on Monday along with municipal building control director Mustafa Burak G\u00fcnde\u015f, municipal architect and urban planner Meral Celep, former Ku\u015fadas\u0131spor club president Ferdi Zengino\u011flu and businessman H\u00fcseyin Kabasakal.<\/p>\n

Another suspect, zoning and urban planning director Ahmet Ta\u015fkan, was released under judicial supervision. The suspects had been\u00a0detained<\/a>\u00a0in police operations on March 13.<\/p>\n

The arrests come amid rising political tensions in Ayd\u0131n province, where Metropolitan Mayor \u00d6zlem \u00c7er\u00e7io\u011flu\u00a0defected<\/a>\u00a0from the CHP to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in a surprise move last year.<\/p>\n

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

The CHP has faced an expanding legal crackdown since its strong performance in the March 2024 local elections. Fifteen of its mayors are currently in prison, mostly on corruption or terrorism-related charges that rights groups say are politically motivated. Courts have also annulled party congress results and appointed trustees to replace elected officials in several municipalities.<\/p>\n

CHP condemns arrests<\/p>\n

CHP lawmaker Mahmut Tanal criticized the arrests, saying that judicial practices differ based on political affiliation. He said opposition mayors face detention and imprisonment, while politicians who join the ruling party see investigations dropped or end in acquittals.<\/p>\n

He was referring to the\u00a0acquittal<\/a>\u00a0of \u00c7er\u00e7io\u011flu last month in a bid-rigging case.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors had sought a six-year prison sentence and a ban from public office for \u00c7er\u00e7io\u011flu on charges of \u201crepeated bid rigging\u201d and \u201crepeated misuse of public office\u201d in connection with municipal tenders conducted between 2013 and 2015. Her acquittal came six months after she defected from the CHP.<\/p>\n

\u00c7er\u00e7io\u011flu had been a member of the CHP for 23 years before joining the AKP on August 4, 2025, along with eight other former opposition mayors during an event marking the party\u2019s 24th anniversary.<\/p>\n

The CHP claims that the defections of its mayors are driven by threats, intimidation and political pressure amid an ongoing crackdown on the party.<\/p>\n

CHP Deputy Chair Burhanettin Bulut also condemned the latest arrests, vowing that the party would not yield to what he described as unlawful actions and political pressure targeting democratic institutions.<\/p>\n

Court lifts house arrest for \u0130stanbul official<\/p>\n

In a separate development a court lifted the house arrest order imposed on \u0130stanbul Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Secretary-General Mahir Polat.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Mahir Polat, deputy secretary-general of the \u0130stanbul Metropolitan Municipality, is seen outside Hali\u00e7 Sanat, a city-run cultural venue. Polat was released from pretrial detention and placed under house arrest amid health concerns, following his arrest during a wider crackdown after the jailing of \u0130stanbul Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu.<\/p>\n

Polat was detained in March 2025 as part of an investigation into alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party (PKK) and was later released under house arrest due to health concerns after being hospitalized and undergoing an angioplasty.<\/p>\n

He was among dozens of municipal officials detained along with \u0130stanbul Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu, a leading political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan.<\/p>\n

The court has now removed the house arrest order.<\/p>\n

Polat\u2019s detention had raised public concern due to reported health issues, including heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and sleep apnea. Legal experts have criticized the case, saying it relied heavily on anonymous witness testimony rather than concrete evidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Turkish court has jailed the mayor of the western resort town of Ku\u015fadas\u0131 in Ayd\u0131n province and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[23864,16706,23865,2031,23866,23867,22492,23868,23869,23870,22494,429,16707,430,131,132,155],"class_list":{"0":"post-42192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-ahmet-taskan","9":"tag-arrested-opposition-mayors","10":"tag-bid-rigging-case","11":"tag-crackdown-on-opposition","12":"tag-ferdi-zenginoglu","13":"tag-huseyin-kabasakal","14":"tag-kusadasi","15":"tag-mahir-polat","16":"tag-meral-celep","17":"tag-mustafa-burak-gundes","18":"tag-omer-gunel","19":"tag-oppression","20":"tag-ozlem-cercioglu","21":"tag-republican-peoples-party-chp","22":"tag-stockholm","23":"tag-sweden","24":"tag-turkey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116246088413861126","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42192","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=42192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}