Turkey’s Interior Ministry has removed the mayor of the Beşiktaş district of İstanbul, one of the strongholds of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) from office following his arrest in a bid-rigging investigation early on Friday.
The ministry announced on the social media platform X on Friday afternoon that Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat, 42, was removed from his post as a “temporary measure,” pursuant to his arrest as part of an investigation conducted by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on accusations of “membership in a criminal organization” and “bribery.”
İstanbul İli Beşiktaş İlçe Belediye Başkanın İçişleri Bakanlığınca Görevden Uzaklaştırılmasına Dair Basın Açıklamamız: pic.twitter.com/yE3UQZA3Nt
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The ministry did not appoint a trustee to the municipality, unlike when another CHP mayor of the Esenyurt Municipality in İstanbul was arrested and removed from his post late last year. Trustees have also been appointed when several Kurdish mayors have been removed from their posts on terror-related charges.
The CHP said a member of the city council, comprised entirely of CHP members, will be elected as an acting mayor during Akpolat’s absence.
In a development that attracted widespread condemnation from his party, Akpolat was detained following a dawn raid on his summer home in Edremit, a district in western Balıkesir province on Monday. He was among 47 people sought on detention warrants as part of the investigation.
The interrogation of 40 suspects who were detained was concluded on Thursday evening, with prosecutors requesting the arrest of 31 individuals, including Akpolat, and the release of nine under judicial supervision. The İstanbul court ultimately ordered the arrest of 22 suspects, including the mayor.
The CHP describes the investigation as politically motivated, claiming it is part of an ongoing government crackdown on the party’s mayors in revenge for their success in the local elections of March 2024.
Opposition party mayors have been under immense pressure in Turkey since the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) sustained its worst election defeat in last year’s local elections, handing over dozens of municipalities to opposition candidates.
CHP leader Özgür Özel said on X that Akpolat’s arrest took place “without a single piece of evidence” and was based on the testimony of a “so-called secret witness,” and will not intimidate any member of his party.
Akpolat and the other suspects are accused of establishing and running a criminal organization, membership in a criminal organization, bribery, bid-rigging, violating tax laws and asset laundering.
Akpolat, who had been running the Beşiktaş Municipality since 2019, was re-elected with 64 percent of the vote in the district in March 2024.
The district has been known as a CHP stronghold for many years.
‘Declaration of war’
Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who commented on the Beşiktaş mayor’s arrest, hinted on Friday at more political and judicial pressure on the party, saying that “there is more to come.”
His remarks were interpreted as a “declaration of war” by the CHP’s Özel, who promised to take “courageous” steps to counter the government’s actions against the party.
“We see this declaration of war and recognize it,” Özel said following a party meeting on Friday.
Throughout this week, CHP supporters and officials, including Özel and İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, have met in front of the Beşiktaş city hall to condemn the mayor’s detention and call for his release.
There are claims that President Erdoğan wants to sideline İmamoğlu with such operations in CHP municipalities. İmamoğlu, who has been governing İstanbul since 2019, is seen as Erdoğan’s strongest political rival.
Speaking at a news conference at the Beşiktaş Municipality in İstanbul on Wednesday, a defiant İmamoğlu called on the government to stop efforts to pressure his party if he was the actual target. İmamoğlu has been the subject of a politically charged trial.
The mayor was sentenced to more than two years in prison and barred from politics in December 2022 for allegedly insulting members of Turkey’s Supreme Election Board (YSK).
The 53-year-old ended the yearslong Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule in İstanbul when he defeated the AKP’s mayoral candidate twice in the local elections of 2019. He won a rerun election by a larger margin than in the first election, which was canceled due to supposed irregularities.
İmamoğlu was re-elected İstanbul mayor in the March 2024 local elections, again leaving the AKP candidate far behind.
In last year’s local elections, the CHP emerged as the leading party for the first time in 47 years, securing 37.7 percent of the vote, maintaining control of key cities and securing substantial gains in other regions, while the AKP came in second, garnering only 35.4 percent.
The CHP’s election victory led to widespread concerns that Erdoğan might resort to measures that would hinder the operations of the opposition municipalities or discredit them in the eyes of the public in retaliation for his party’s election loss.
Over the past months, the CHP municipalities have also been hit by investigations on accusations of irregular spending and unpaid debts to the government.
In yet another measure targeting the opposition municipalities, the government introduced measures to cut public funds to municipalities and their subsidiaries to offset their outstanding debts, according to a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette in late November.