Suspended Menderes Mayor Ilkay Çiçek in the western city of Izmir announced Monday that he had resigned from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) after being jailed pending trial in a corruption investigation involving bribery and extortion allegations.
The Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had ordered the detention of 16 suspects, including Çiçek, as part of an investigation into alleged offenses including forming and joining a criminal organization, bribery, extortion, forgery of official documents, abuse of office and causing zoning pollution.
All 16 suspects were referred to court following proceedings by the gendarmerie. Ten, including Çiçek, were arrested pending trial, while six others were released under judicial supervision.
The Interior Ministry later suspended Çiçek from his post as Menderes mayor as a temporary measure.
Çiçek said he reluctantly resigned from the CHP after the party referred him to disciplinary proceedings seeking his expulsion without first obtaining his defense.
Çiçek was elected mayor of the small Aegean coastal district in the 2024 municipal elections, replacing another CHP mayor in a district that has been a stronghold of the opposition party for years.
Over the past months, dozens of CHP mayors have been the subject of criminal investigations, and many have been detained or arrested on corruption charges, along with a sizable number of municipal bureaucrats.
