More than 120 officials arrested for alleged corruption in Turkey amid allegations of political persecution
More than 120 members of the municipality of Izmir (Turkey's third largest city) were arrested by the Izmir Public Prosecutor's Office on suspicion of corruption. In total, 157 arrest warrants have been issued, according to local media such as Cumuhuriyet and the private television station NTV.
The official account of the city of Izmir on social network X published a list of the names of the 120 detainees in what it has called: ‘Cooperative operation against the former administration of the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality’.
These actions, which are part of the Izmir Public Prosecutor's Office investigation, were denounced by the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), as political persecution by the established power.
Among those arrested are ‘the former mayor of the metropolitan municipality, Tunç Soyer, senior officials at the time and our provincial president, Senol Aslanoglu,’ according to CHP deputy chairman Murat Bakan.
Bakan denounced the situation on social media, claiming that ‘it is a clear political choice’ and that the same situation is being repeated in Istanbul.
He alludes to the fact that on 19 March, Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is also a member of the CHP and was the main candidate to run against current Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was arrested for reasons very similar to the current arrests, as well as for allegedly aiding a terrorist group. Today, he remains behind bars awaiting sentencing.
At the time, the CHP also accused Erdogan's government of using the justice system to remove political rivals, which the detainee described as ‘a deliberate process of discrediting’.
Bakan explained in his post that the reasons for the recent arrests are issues that have already been investigated and have been discussed repeatedly.
According to the Turkish media outlet NTV, the Izmir Public Prosecutor's Office launched its investigation following complaints from local residents about urban reconstruction work carried out in the wake of the 2020 earthquake that began in Greece.
The media outlet went on to say that the charges are: ‘Manipulation of a tender’, ‘manipulation in the performance of a duty’ and ‘aggravated fraud’, according to the Court of Auditors' Report, the Civil Inspector's Report, the Audit Report of the Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urban Planning, the Audit Report of the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Inspection Board and expert reports.
‘There is no suspicion of flight. These people have known addresses and are in public every day. If they had been called to testify, they would of course have gone,’ Bakan explained, insisting that it was not necessary to carry out the arrests.
He concluded that the Turkish judicial system remains unindependent because it ‘acts according to instructions, not according to the law,’ and that the CHP party will support its colleagues in Izmir ‘against this injustice.’
The day before the arrests, the Ankara court had postponed the trial for alleged electoral fraud by the CHP until 8 September. According to a former member of the social democratic party, the municipal elections were a success thanks to bribery and vote buying.
According to local media, the defendants (including Imamoglu) face a three-year prison sentence and political disqualification if the crime is confirmed.
