CHP party under pressure: three opposition mayors arrested in Turkey

In Turkey, the mayors of several cities were arrested again by the opposition party CHP. The state broadcaster TRT reported that the arrested mayor of Antalya, Adana and Adiyaman and other suspects would be allegations of corruption. In Adana, people gathered to protest against the procedure and, in speech choirs, asked President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resign.

The arrests are lined up in a series of similar measures against CHP politicians. The largest opposition party in Türkiye has been under increasing pressure for months. Many observers evaluate the procedure as a targeted campaign against the party, which emerged in the past nationwide local elections as the strongest force and thus again represented a serious political competition for the governing AKP – especially at the local level.

In March, the arrest and removal of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, triggered nationwide protests. Imamoglu is considered the potential challenger of President Erdogan. Further arrest waves against the party followed. It was only on Tuesday that the former CHP mayor of the Izmir metropolitan region was arrested together with dozens of others.

Turkish judiciary under criticism for years

Erdogan repeatedly announced that there would be further steps against the CHP. He justifies this with alleged illegal machinations and recently called the party a “tool of local robbers”.

The mayors in Adana and Adiyaman are based on corruption investigations by the Istanbul public prosecutor, as part of which the mayors of the Istanbul districts of Besiktas and Esenyurt had already been arrested. The deputy mayor in the Istanbul district of Büyükcekmece was also arrested on Saturday.

For years, the Turkish judiciary has been criticized to act politically to act and to investigate investigations against opposition politicians politically.