Antalya, at the heart of the Turkish Riviera, was rocked by corruption scandals last year. After the city’s mayor, Muhittin Böcek, and the Manavgat district’s mayor, Niyazi Nefi Kara, were arrested on charges of bribery, newly surfaced allegations against Kara, who is a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), like Böcek, reveal a cash-for-candidacy scheme in Türkiye’s oldest party.
A report published by the Sabah newspaper on Monday says Kara sought to collect 20 million euros ($23.13 million) to be funnelled to the party’s headquarters, in order to secure a nomination for the mayoral seat of Antalya Metropolitan Municipality.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, who was targeted in a defamation campaign by CHP, has recently told journalists that the opposition party sought to distract the public from allegations that Böcek also handed over 20 million euros to the CHP headquarters ahead of the 2024 local elections to secure his candidacy.
An investigation into alleged wrongdoings of Kara by the chief prosecutor’s office in Manavgat exposed how the mayor utilized municipal resources for his own political ambitions.
Testimonies in the case show that Kara aimed to run for the mayoral seat of Antalya in the next elections and discussed the matter with Osman Zafer Keçer, head of the Manavgat municipality’s department issuing construction and zoning permits. He allegedly told Keçer that he needed 20 million euros in cash to get approval from the CHP headquarters for candidacy in the next elections and “to boost his standing” within the party. After the discussions, the Manavgat municipality set up “an operational team” according to the Sabah report, focusing on major projects that required permits from the municipality. Two municipal bureaucrats leaked the details of pending projects to Kara’s nephew Hüseyin Cem Gül, his aides Bulem Şahbaz and Sıla Ceyhan Berkaya. Together with a “middleman,” bureaucrats contacted the project owners and asked for bribes under the name of “candidacy fund” for Kara. Companies that failed to pay had their project permits suspended indefinitely.
Keçer’s testimony in the case revealed that the Manavgat municipality was turned into an “electoral office” for Kara, the report says.
On March 18, Gürlek, a former prosecutor handling the corruption cases of CHP mayors, told journalists Böcek visited Manisa, a CHP-run municipality in western Türkiye and reportedly had a cash transaction with CHP officials at a gas station there, in order to secure his candidacy for next elections.
Testimonies in Böcek’s case corroborate Gürlek’s statements. Furkan Solak, a friend of Böcek’s son Gökhan, told investigators that the mayor’s son admitted that his father paid something “between TL 50 and 100 million” for securing his candidacy. “I met him sometime toward the end of 2023. He was angry and unhappy. When I asked him what happened, he told me that they donated the party TL 50 million for candidacy but party’s chair Özgür Özel still did not announce his father’s candidacy, though he announced the other candidates. Ali Yılmaz, another witness, gave a similar statement. “But Gökhan did not tell me how they collected that amount,” he said.
Serkan Çavdar, another witness, said Gökhan Böcek told him that they sent “millions of dollars” to CHP for his father’s candidacy and collected it from (rigged) tenders and businesspeople. Tuncay Sarıhan, a suspect in the case, told investigators last year that Gökhan Böcek covered the expenses of the party’s headquarters in Ankara from his own pocket.
