ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish authorities on Saturday detained 47 more members of the Istanbul municipality over accusations of corruption, broadcaster NTV and other media reported, amid a widening legal crackdown against the opposition and the city’s jailed mayor.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is also President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival and leads him in some polls, was jailed in March pending trial over charges of corruption and aiding a terrorist group. The mayor has denied all charges and his arrest triggered mass protests, economic turmoil, and broad accusations of a politicised judiciary.
On Saturday, NTV said the municipality’s secretary general, Imamoglu’s chief of staff, the chairman and deputy chairman of the municipality’s water and sewerage administration (ISKI), as well as a department head at ISKI were detained, among others.
Authorities also detained the wife of Imamoglu’s aide, Murat Ongun, NTV said. It added that several other senior officials in the municipality and institutions tied to it were taken as part of the probe.
The detentions bring the number of arrests since Imamoglu was detained to at least 150, though the exact number is unclear.
Imamoglu, who has dismissed all charges and accusations against him and his municipality as politically fabricated to remove an electoral challenge to Erdogan, said the people detained had done nothing wrong and called on citizens to battle “those rotting our state”.
“What happened? Were you unable to fill up your empty file?” he said on X, referring to the ongoing legal cases, adding that the detentions were aimed at “filling empty files with lies and slander”.
“It must be known very clearly that I will defend all of my colleagues until the end in this process. Nobody will be left behind. These days will pass,” he added.
Imamoglu’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has accused the judiciary of doing Erdogan’s bidding, saying the arrests of numerous CHP mayors are part of a broader campaign to neutralize elected opposition officials ahead of any future national elections.
The government has rejected those claims and says the judiciary is independent.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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