Mustafa Gül, the former main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) mayor of Kemer, a coastal district of Antalya province, was arrested on charges of influence peddling and fraud, local authorities said Thursday.
Gül was detained earlier this week as part of an ongoing investigation launched by the Kemer Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Following his interrogation at the police department, he was referred to the courthouse and later formally arrested by a criminal court on the same charges.
The investigation began after a local business owner named M.N.A. filed a complaint alleging that Gül had contacted him regarding a lawsuit involving his business. Gül reportedly claimed to know the expert assigned to prepare a report on the case and requested $9,500 (TL 398,890) from the businessperson, saying the money would be given to the expert in exchange for a favorable report.
Following the complaint, under the prosecutors’ coordination, an operation was launched. During a search conducted at Gül’s residence, police found the marked banknotes whose serial numbers had been previously recorded. Gül was subsequently taken into custody on charges of influence peddling and fraud.
After serving from 1994 to 1999 in the CHP, Gül returned to office a decade later, winning the 2009 local elections as a candidate of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) before rejoining the CHP in 2016.
In 2012, he was briefly detained on allegations of bid-rigging but was later released.
Gül was reelected in 2014, serving his third term as mayor under the MHP banner. In 2016, he resigned from the party following a disciplinary expulsion request and rejoined the CHP to continue his political career.
Previously, Muhittin Böcek, the former mayor of Antalya province, was also arrested in July on allegations of accepting a TL 195 million bribe with his son, reportedly laundered through jewelry stores and currency exchanges. The Interior Ministry later suspended him from duty.
On the other hand, Turkish authorities also detained 24 additional suspects this week as part of an ongoing corruption investigation into alleged "bribery, embezzlement and bid rigging" during the previous administration of the Manavgat Municipality in Antalya. Former Mayor Şükrü Sözen and his brother were arrested on Sept. 11. During searches of their homes, investigators reportedly seized large amounts of cash and jewelry.
The Antalya Metropolitan Municipality, Türkiye’s fifth-largest city administration, has faced heightened scrutiny since the arrests.
