Authorities detained an Eyüpsultan deputy mayor and two municipal officials on Wednesday as part of an expanding corruption investigation centered on the opposition-run Çankaya Municipality in the Turkish capital, prosecutors said.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said Eyüpsultan Deputy Mayor Hasan Karabulut, Eyüpsultan Municipality Chief of Staff Güray Geçyatan and Benan Esengül were taken into custody in connection with the investigation.
The latest detentions follow a July 11 operation targeting the Republican People's Party (CHP)-run Çankaya Municipality in Ankara. Çankaya Mayor Hüseyin Can Güner was among dozens of suspects detained during the operation.
A court later ordered the arrest of Güner and 23 other suspects pending trial, and Türkiye's Interior Ministry subsequently suspended Güner from office.
Prosecutors are investigating Güner and a total of 35 suspects on allegations including establishing and membership in a criminal organization, bribery and bid-rigging in public tenders.
The prosecutor's office announced the investigation remains ongoing.
Güner, 32, graduated from Ankara University's Faculty of Law in 2015 and joined the CHP in 2012. He served in various party positions before being elected mayor of Çankaya in the March 2024 local elections. He was also elected to the CHP's Party Assembly in 2023.
Dozens of mayors and municipal bureaucrats from the CHP were detained or arrested in the past two years in investigations focusing on corruption. The majority of allegations involve bribery in return of construction permits, which are otherwise subject to strict regulations, and rigging the lucrative tenders of municipalities.
