A series of legal operations targeting CHP-run municipalities intensified on April 9 as CHP Chair Özgür Özel repeated calls for a by-election.
Since March 19, 2025, when Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was taken into custody on corruption charges, the crackdown has continued unabated — more officials jailed, municipal control stripped from the CHP — as the party's protests show no sign of stopping.
While the trial continued in Silivri, the mayorship of Bursa passed from the CHP to the AKP following the arrest and suspension of elected Mayor Mustafa Bozbey. The CHP boycotted the vote entirely and did not nominate a candidate as the ruling AKP and MHP alliance holds the majority in the municipal council.
With the CHP absent, the AKP’s candidate Şahin Biba won the seat in the third round with 61 votes, effectively handing control of Turkey's fourth-largest city to the ruling party.
Özel said the party deliberately chose not to put forward a candidate, calling the process illegitimate and promising that voters in Bursa would deliver their verdict at the next election.
A CASE STRETCHES FROM IZMIR TO ANKARA
The investigation into the 'Cooperative Case' in Izmir expanded further on April 9 when the CHP's Ankara Provincial Chair Ümit Erkol was detained at his home and transferred to Izmir by the financial crimes police.
Erkol is alleged to have had a role in a housing cooperative linked to former Izmir Mayor Tunç Soyer, who is already behind bars.
Erkol's son Fırat has been on trial without being under arrest in the same case since July 2025.
Özel said Erkol's name appeared in an expert report as one of eleven people who had at some point served in a management role at the cooperative, and expressed confidence he would be released after giving his testimony.
BORNOVA MAYOR DETAINED ON FRAUD CHARGES
Mayor Ömer Ekşi of Izmir’s Bornova district — elected on March 2024 with nearly 50% of the vote — was also detained on April 9 on charges of qualified fraud and forgery of official documents
Izmir prosecutors allege that a person named A.A. was kept on the municipal payroll without actually working, with Ekşi and three other officials accused of facilitating the arrangement.
DETENTIONS IN ÜSKÜDAR
Once known as an AKP stronghold until shifting to the CHP in 2024, Istanbul's Üsküdar district was also targeted in the operations.
Twenty people were detained on April 7 over allegations of illegally collecting payments from contractors in exchange for construction permits. Üsküdar Mayor Sinem Dedetaş, whose name has been mentioned as a possible successor to İmamoğlu in Istanbul, was not detained, though she said she could become the next target.
The accusation is that a municipal subsidiary called Kent A.Ş. was used as a front company to illegally collect payments from contractors in exchange for construction permits. The Üsküdar Municipality denied the allegations, stating that the claims 'do not reflect the truth' and that the legal process was being conducted transparently.
