Turkish authorities detained 157 folks together with Opposition get together members and a former Mayor in Izmir early on Tuesday (July 1, 2025), broadcaster NTV reported, increasing a months-long authorized crackdown on the Opposition that had been targeted on Istanbul.
The Izmir Prosecutor ordered the detentions within the early morning hours as a part of an investigation into corruption, tender rigging and fraud within the west-coast metropolis, NTV reported.
Murat Bakan, an Izmir MP from the primary Opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)— which has confronted waves of arrests since late final yr— stated former Izmir Mayor Tunc Soyer was detained alongside with senior bureaucrats and a celebration provincial chairman.
“We woke up to another dawn operation today,” he stated on X. “We are facing a process similar to what happened in Istanbul,” Mr. Bakan stated, including that it appeared to be “a judicial system acting on instructions”.
Those arrested within the broader crackdown embody Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu— President Tayyip Erdogan’s predominant political rival. Mr. Imamoglu was jailed in March pending trial on corruption costs, which he denies. That sparked the most important avenue protests in a decade and a pointy selloff in Turkish property.
The CHP denies the costs. It and a few Western international locations have referred to as the crackdown a politicised transfer to eradicate electoral challenges to Erdogan and silence dissent.
The authorities denies these claims, saying the judiciary and Turkey’s courts are unbiased.
NTV stated the investigation into Izmir municipality partially appears to be like at potential corruption involving subcontractor firms.
