Adana Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Zeydan Karalar was arrested along with six others as part of a wide-ranging corruption investigation launched by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, authorities said Tuesday.
The probe centers on a criminal network accused of bribing mayors to manipulate municipal tender processes in their favor. Prosecutors allege that the group sought to control public contracts by offering illicit payments to key local officials.
Karalar, a senior member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was taken into custody earlier this week and formally arrested after hours of questioning. The investigation remains ongoing, with more suspects expected to be questioned in connection with the case.
The detentions are part of an ongoing investigation into alleged corruption based mainly on the confessions of Aziz Ihsan Aktaş, a businessman identified as the head of a criminal network active in municipalities.
Corruption allegations have spread across CHP-run municipalities since last year, leading to the detention and arrests of the party’s prominent names, including Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, a future presidential candidate of the party.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has labeled the scandals as “tentacles of an octopus” of wrongdoings. The party itself is at the center of allegations of vote-buying in a 2023 intra-party vote that brought its current chair, Özgür Özel, to power. A hearing earlier this week over election fraud allegations was postponed to September.
