The co-chair of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) has called for an immediate halt to the government’s ongoing crackdown on opposition-held municipalities, describing it as a politically motivated campaign that threatens peace, democracy and freedoms.
The investigations into main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) municipalities began in October 2024 with the arrest of Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer and have since expanded to include several districts across İstanbul and most recently, Adana and Adıyaman. The pressure intensified after the CHP’s sweeping victory in the March 2024 local elections in which the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) suffered its worst electoral defeat in two decades, losing control of key cities to the opposition.
“This wave [of operations] targeting opposition municipalities must immediately come to an end. All mayors currently in custody and those previously arrested must be released. Turkey has no other option,” Tülay Hatimoğulları said during her party’s group meeting on Tuesday.
Referring to the corruption allegations that have been used to justify most of the recent operations, Hatimoğulları suggested forming independent commissions to investigate all municipalities and public tenders, including those overseen by government-appointed trustees, arguing that accountability should apply to everyone.
“If we talk about [the ideals of] peace, democracy and freedom, then these must be put into practice,” she added.
The AKP government’s crackdown on the opposition escalated in March with the arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was named the CHP’s presidential candidate the same day, on corruption charges widely seen as politically motivated. His detention sparked nationwide protests, the largest wave of unrest in Turkey since the 2013 Gezi Park demonstrations.
Dozens of CHP officials and many mayors are currently jailed pending trial, with three more mayors from the party detained in early morning raids just days ago.
In the latest chapter of the crackdown on Tuesday, two of those mayors faced legal action. Adana Metropolitan Mayor Zeydan Karalar was referred to court with a request for arrest, while Adıyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere was released under house arrest as part of judicial supervision measures.
Separately, the CHP’s İstanbul Chair Özgür Çelik was summoned to testify as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged irregularities in the 2023 election for the party’s İstanbul provincial leadership. Çelik, who denied any wrongdoing, described the summons as part of a broader campaign to suppress the party.
Hatimoğulları’s comments come amid criticism that the DEM Party has issued only muted responses to the ongoing operations targeting CHP municipalities due to quiet coordination with the government in recent months over renewed efforts to end the decades-long Kurdish conflict.
The pro-Kurdish party’s criticism is particularly significant as it comes amid a fragile political thaw following the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) announcement in May to end its armed insurgency — a decision reportedly facilitated in part by indirect contacts involving the DEM Party leadership.
During her speech on Tuesday Hatimoğulları also spoke about the militant group’s expected ceremony this week in which it will make a symbolic show of destroying weapons. “We are on the threshold of peace,” she said, adding, “We must build and sustain peace on a democratic foundation. The path to peace and democracy is open — as long as we take concrete steps during this week’s ceremony and in the period that follows to bring this country to real peace.”