Turkey’s Interior Ministry has removed another opposition party mayor in İstanbul from office following his arrest as part of a bid-rigging investigation, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Beykoz Mayor Alaattin Köseler, a member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is the third CHP mayor in İstanbul to be arrested and removed from office in the past four months, as the government intensifies judicial pressure on the party.
The Interior Ministry announced Köseler’s removal on X on Tuesday. He was detained in a pre-dawn raid at his home last week.
İstanbul İli Beykoz İlçe Belediye Başkanın İçişleri Bakanlığınca Görevden Uzaklaştırılmasına Dair Basın Açıklaması pic.twitter.com/STt4tBmCt1
— T.C. İçişleri Bakanlığı (@TC_icisleri) March 4, 2025
Prosecutors on Monday requested the arrest of Köseler and 17 others on charges of bid rigging and forming a criminal organization. A total of 13 people, including Köseler, were arrested, while five others were released under judicial supervision.
Köseler was among 21 people initially detained last week as part of an investigation launched by the Beykoz Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. The number of suspects later rose to 22 following an additional detention.
In the March 31, 2024 municipal elections, the CHP won 26 of İstanbul’s 39 district municipalities, in addition to retaining control of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
Köseler, 65, was elected mayor with 45.8 percent of the vote in Beykoz, defeating his closest rival from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The municipality was previously run by an AKP mayor.
The investigation into him focuses on irregularities in municipal tenders, particularly involving concerts held during Republic Day celebrations on October 29 of last year. Prosecutors claim that a criminal organization influenced the tender by bribing officials.
Köseler denies charges
The mayor rejected the allegations of tender irregularities during both his testimony to the prosecutor’s office and his defense before the court on Monday.
He said he deeply regrets the accusations leveled against him, claiming that as a mayor, he is being held responsible for matters outside his jurisdiction.
“It is evident that the appropriate respondents to these inquiries are the relevant municipal department heads. Unfortunately, I believe this investigation lacks legal merit. The truth will come out, and it will be clear that I have no connection to these charges,” said Köseler in his statement.
CHP leader Özgür Özel strongly criticized the mayor’s arrest, calling it a politically motivated move.
“The detention and subsequent arrest of our Beykoz Mayor Alaattin Köseler, four days after being held in custody, is a political decision and an incompetent show of force,” Özel wrote on X.
He accused the government of undermining justice by arresting a 65-year-old elected mayor, supported by one in two voters in Beykoz, after detaining him at 4 a.m. at his home and holding him in custody for four days despite the absence of flight risk.
He further condemned the government’s broader judicial actions against opposition figures, warning that such practices harm Turkey’s international reputation.
Crackdown on CHP intensifies
In a similar development prosecutors launched an investigation on Tuesday into Özgür Çelik, the CHP provincial branch chairman in İstanbul, on charges of violating the law on assemblies and demonstrations.
Köseler’s arrest and removal from office follow a wave of investigations and arrests targeting CHP municipalities in İstanbul, as a result of which two party mayors from the Esenyurt and Beşiktaş districts were removed from office and arrested.
In addition an İstanbul court ruled last month for the arrest of 10 senior municipal officials from the CHP on terrorism charges.
The CHP and government critics argue that these investigations are an attempt to discredit the party and weaken İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is seen as a potential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan if Erdoğan seeks another term in the next presidential election.
The opposition claims the government is using the judiciary to target CHP-run municipalities in retaliation for the party’s success in last year’s local elections, when the AKP sustained its worst defeat since it came to power in 2002.