ISTANBUL: Turkey arrested three more opposition mayors early on Saturday as part of an investigation into alleged graft, officials from the main opposition CHP said.
The early morning arrests were the latest move in a growing number of probes targeting elected officials of the Republican People's Party (CHP) as the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan puts increasing pressure on the party which won a huge victory against his AKP in the 2024 local elections.
Among those arrested were the mayors of the southern city of Adana, the southern resort town of Antalya and the southeastern town of Adiyaman, party officials said.
“Our Adana Mayor Zeydan Karalar, Antalya Mayor Muhittin Bocek and Adiyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere have been detained,“ Mansur Yavas, the mayor of Ankara, Turkey’s capital, wrote on X.
“In a system where the law bends and sways according to politics, where justice is applied for one group and ignored for another, no one should expect us to trust in the rule of law or believe in justice,“ he wrote.
“We will not bow to injustice, lawlessness, or political operations.”
