Özgür Kabadayı, the mayor of Istanbul’s Şile district, was among six suspects detained by financial crimes police on Thursday on charges of running a criminal organization, bribery and tender rigging.
He is the latest mayor from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) to be detained in corruption investigations since last year. Details of the investigation into Kabadayı and other suspects are not clear yet.
Media reports said the investigation included testimonies of eyewitnesses, particularly on bribes to municipal officials. A businessperson told investigators that municipal officials asked for bribes for doing business with the municipality in the district, which is a popular weekend getaway for Istanbulites. The unnamed businessperson said that as a supporter of the CHP, he was disturbed by municipal officials’ actions, adding that he witnessed a colleague paying TL 300,000 ($7,490) to a municipal official for a construction permit. Another businessperson testifying said he paid TL 8 million to municipal officials.
A barrage of investigations focusing on CHP-run municipalities across Türkiye netted mayors and municipal bureaucrats accused of taking bribes in exchange for building permits, rigging tenders and other forms of corruption involving municipal businesses. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan branded the investigations as efforts to unveil the “tentacles of an octopus of corruption.” The CHP claims the charges are politically motivated, while authorities highlight that the judiciary is independent of any political influence and point out that some investigations were launched upon complaints by CHP members themselves against mayors and municipal officials.
Although several mayors before him were detained or arrested in corruption probes, the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu in March for alleged corruption triggered protests by the CHP. CHP Chair Özgür Özel led the protests that occasionally descended into all-out riots. Recently, Özel openly threatened an uprising against the democratically elected government if the corruption investigations continue, prompting outcry from CHP critics who accused him of attempting to instigate a coup.
Imamoğlu, who is declared a future presidential candidate by the CHP after his arrest, faces a spate of accusations alongside corruption charges, including forging his university diploma, and insulting and threatening prosecutors who investigated him.
President Erdoğan says the investigations are needed to address a vast network of corruption and has urged patience. On Wednesday, he said he approved a call by government ally Devlet Bahçeli to amend regulations for the live broadcast of trials of mayors.
Rıza Akpolat, the mayor of the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul for the CHP, was the first mayor to be detained and subsequently arrested in a crackdown on an alleged network of corruption. A businessperson awarded contracts by his municipality and other CHP-run municipalities has testified about the widespread corruption, especially in public tenders, which led to the expansion of the probes. Since then, hundreds of people have been detained on related charges, from businesspeople who confessed to bribes and mayors who took them.
According to the review of legal filings and state disclosures, 14 CHP mayors and more than 200 party members or local officials have been jailed pending trial.
Of those, more than 220 were imprisoned or put under house arrest, according to the review, which was based in part on a compilation of reports by Anadolu Agency (AA).
Since Tuesday last week, the investigation has spread to Izmir, Türkiye's third-largest city, as well as Antalya, Adana and Adıyaman, leading to the detentions of former and incumbent mayors of those provinces.
Also on Thursday, media outlets published confessions of Mehmet Engin Tüter, the deputy mayor of Antalya’s Manavgat district, who was caught red-handed while accepting bribes in a police sting last Friday. Tüter was caught on video as he was ordered by police officers to open a box of baklava handed to him minutes before by a businessperson. The footage showed that the box contained a stash of euros. Other footage showed him discreetly accepting the box, fully aware of the cash hidden inside.
After his detention, Tüter invoked the “effective repentance” law that grants lenient sentences for suspects in exchange for confessions and detailed how other municipal officials were involved in bribes. Tüter is the deputy working under Mayor Niyazi Nefi Kara, who was earlier detained on corruption charges.
He told investigators that Kara set up a team of associates comprised of his friends and next of kin after he took office, after winning the 2024 municipal elections. He said Kara’s nephew and a friend were assigned as key bureaucrats in the municipality. “(Kara’s nephew) Hüseyin Cem Gül was very active at the municipality. Although he had no official post at the municipality, the mayor had instructed bureaucrats to consult with him, particularly while issuing building licenses and permits, especially for hotels,” the deputy mayor of a popular tourist destination told investigators.
“No one was able to secure a license without asking Gül first,” he said.
Tüter said the municipality allowed a hotel to run several shops without proper licenses, apparently in exchange for bribes, and issued licenses for two other hotels though they did not comply with building regulations, claiming that Gül “benefited” from permits.
He said the mayor asked an assembly member to recruit a wrestler for the municipality’s sports club, in exchange for allowing the said member to build more rooms for her hotels, though it was against regulations. Tüter stated that the said wrestler was also paid TL 4 million by the assembly member who was in charge of the sports club.
Tüter said that in one case, a hotel owner was asked to “furnish” the office of the mayor in exchange for a permit.
