{"id":63226,"date":"2026-04-17T16:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/63226\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T16:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:00:12","slug":"turkey-detains-8-people-in-2-operations-targeting-chp-run-municipalities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/63226\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey detains 8 people in 2 operations targeting CHP-run municipalities"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Turkish police detained eight people in two operations targeting municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) in western Turkey on Thursday and Friday, as part of ongoing investigations into opposition municipalities, Turkish Minute<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

In the western province of U\u015fak, prosecutors launched an investigation into the E\u015fme district municipality over alleged extortion.<\/p>\n

Police on Friday detained four people including E\u015fme Mayor Y\u0131lmaz Tozan and his wife, Burcu Tozan, while efforts were ongoing to apprehend one remaining suspect. Officers also seized digital materials during a search of city hall.<\/p>\n

In the northwestern province of Bolu, gendarmes on Thursday detained Mustafa Alt\u0131ndal, head of the Chamber of Greengrocers and Market Traders, along with two employees. The detentions were carried out as part of a separate investigation linked to a municipality. The three suspects were later referred to court following questioning. Alt\u0131ndal and one employee were subsequently arrested while the other suspect was released.<\/p>\n

The recent detentions and arrests follow earlier arrests of CHP mayors in both Bolu and U\u015fak.<\/p>\n

U\u015fak Mayor \u00d6zkan Yal\u0131m had been\u00a0arrested<\/a>\u00a0in late March as part of a probe into alleged bribery, extortion and bid-rigging at the municipality. Bolu Mayor Tanju \u00d6zcan, also from the CHP, had been also\u00a0jailed<\/a>\u00a0pending trial \u00a0on misconduct charges in a separate investigation in early March.<\/p>\n

The CHP has criticized the investigations, saying municipalities under its control are facing increasing legal pressure following the party\u2019s gains in the March 2024 local elections, when it secured control of several major cities.<\/p>\n

A municipal workers union\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0last month that the pressure has extended beyond individual cases. In a statement on March 31 the Confederation of Public Workers\u2019 Unions\u2019 Municipal and Local Administration Services Union said 85 municipalities had changed hands since the 2024 elections through trustee appointments, removals, arrests and shifts in city council control.<\/p>\n

The union said trustees were appointed to 13 municipalities, while elected mayors were removed in 30 others and political control shifted in 55 through changes in local councils. It added that 19 mayors were in pretrial detention as of March 31, 2026.<\/p>\n

The figures reflect what critics describe as growing legal and political pressure on opposition-run municipalities, particularly those governed by the CHP and the pro-Kurdish Peoples\u2019 Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party).<\/p>\n

Since October 2024 prosecutors have launched multiple corruption and misconduct investigations into CHP-run municipalities. In March 2025 \u0130stanbul Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu was also arrested as part of a separate probe and remains in jail while his trial continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turkish police detained eight people in two operations targeting municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[83],"tags":[34775,34776,2031,425,34777,34778,26350,429,430,131,132,155,34779],"class_list":["post-63226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-stockholm","tag-bolu","tag-burcu-tozan","tag-crackdown-on-opposition","tag-democracy","tag-esme-municipality","tag-mustafa-altindal","tag-opposition-run-municipalities","tag-oppression","tag-republican-peoples-party-chp","tag-stockholm","tag-sweden","tag-turkey","tag-yilmaz-tozan"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116420885058664044","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63226","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=63226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}