The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) staved off a major trial on allegations of vote-buying in an intraparty election in 2023, but more legal woes await it in 2026.
Türkiye’s oldest party, whose mayors face a spate of corruption allegations, will defend itself and its mayors in a string of ongoing cases.
The biggest among them concerns the Turkish media's “shady congress” in November 2023, at which current Chair Özgür Özel ended the long reign of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. An Ankara court has dismissed the trial over alleged vote-buying by Özel and his associates during the 2023 intraparty election, but the former CHP members who are plaintiffs in the case have appealed to the appeals court. This case runs parallel with another lawsuit calling for nullification of the said congress and this case’s next hearing will be held in Ankara on Jan. 13. Separately, the next hearing in a lawsuit calling for nullification of the 2023 election of head of party’s Istanbul branch Özgür Çelik, also accused of bribing delegates to vote for him, will be held on Feb. 27. An Istanbul court has already ordered the suspension of Çelik and appointed Gürsel Tekin, former vice chair of the CHP, as a trustee of the party’s Istanbul branch, prompting an outcry among supporters of the Özel administration and expulsion of Tekin from the party.
The party’s future presidential candidate, Ekrem Imamoğlu, who was arrested last March on corruption charges while serving as mayor of Istanbul, will also be busy in 2026 with an array of trials. On March 9, Imamoğlu and 406 other defendants are expected to appear before an Istanbul court for a hearing on the trial on a wide range of corruption accusations. Imamoğlu is accused of running a criminal ring thriving on bribes and extortion from businesses seeking licenses from the municipality. Imamoğlu’s co-defendants are mostly municipal bureaucrats and businesspeople accused of conspiring with the gang to secure lucrative tenders. The former mayor faces thousands of years in prison.
In another trial, Imamoğlu will try to repeal an earlier verdict by Istanbul University, which canceled the former mayor’s diploma, when an investigation found that the diploma was forged. On Jan. 15, an Istanbul court will hear the case and if it upholds the decision, Imamoğlu may lose his chance of running for president in the future as presidential candidates are required to hold a university diploma. On Feb. 16, another Istanbul court will hold the next hearing in a case in which Imamoğlu is accused of forging official documents related to the fake diploma case.
Throughout multiple trials, Imamoğlu maintained that the charges against him were politically motivated, and on several occasions, he openly insulted and threatened people handling the cases, including Istanbul’s chief prosecutor and an expert witness. On March 30, he is scheduled to attend the next hearing in the case in which he is accused of attempting to influence the expert witness tasked with verifying allegations of corruption at Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB).
The former mayor was already sentenced for threatening and insulting Chief Prosecutor Akın Gürlek in Istanbul, but a preceding case is still before a high court of appeals. This case, in which the mayor publicly insulted members of an election board regarding the results of a previous election, is expected to be decided in 2026.
Imamoğlu is not the only CHP mayor facing corruption charges. Prior to his arrest, authorities had ordered the arrest of Rıza Akpolat, mayor of Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district, on similar charges in late 2024. The investigation was expanded to include mayors of Adana province, the mayor of Istanbul’s Avcılar district, and mayors of Adana’s Seyhan and Ceyhan districts. At the heart of investigations were the confessions of Aziz Ihsan Aktaş, a businessperson who bribed mayors and municipal officials to secure public tenders. Akpolat and 193 other suspects will appear before an Istanbul court on Jan. 27.
Muhittin Böcek, the CHP mayor of Antalya, is another high-profile figure in corruption investigations. Böcek was arrested on July 5 and is expected to attend the first hearing in 2026, of a trial where he will face charges of rampant corruption, involving bribes. New hearings in trials of other CHP mayors, including former Izmir Mayor Tunç Soyer and the mayors of Istanbul’s Beykoz, Şile and Gaziosmanpaşa districts, also on charges of corruption, will be held in 2026.
