Mayor of opposition Istanbul stronghold arrested over bid-rigging claims

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ISTANBUL (AP) — The mayor of one of Turkey’s opposition strongholds was arrested Monday as part of a bid-rigging investigation, prosecutors in Istanbul said.

Riza Akpolat, who heads Besiktas municipality on the city’s European side, was detained at his summer house in Edremit on Turkey’s west coast, private news agency DHA reported.

Besiktas has long been under the control of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP. It is one of the city’s main entertainment centers and home to the famous soccer club of the same name.

“A criminal organization … organized the tender processes by bribing mayors and senior executives of municipalities and ensuring that their own companies were awarded the tenders,” the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

CHP Chairman Ozgur Ozel described the arrest as “a new link in the chain of lawlessness in the politicized justice system” and vowed to stand by Akpolat.

The CHP mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, said the dawn raid on Akpolat’s home was part of an attempt to influence public opinion.

“The procedure of those who do not have legal intentions cannot be legal,” he said.

The prosecutor’s office said a three-month investigation led to arrest warrants for 47 people, including Akpolat and Ahmet Ozer, the CHP mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district.

Ozer has been behind bars since October as part of a separate investigation into his alleged connections to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

The tender-rigging scheme was allegedly led by a man named Aziz Ihsan Aktas, prosecutors said. He and 24 other suspects were detained on charges of establishing and running a criminal organization, being members of a criminal organization, bribery, bid-rigging, violating tax laws and asset laundering.

Police set up barriers around Besiktas municipal offices while Akpolat’s office was searched and checked staff IDs before allowing workers to enter.

Akpolat, 42, was elected Besiktas mayor in 2019 with nearly three-quarters of the vote, having previously run unsuccessfully for parliament on the CHP ticket.

Along with other municipal officers, he was detained on charges of membership in a criminal organization, bid-rigging, bribery and unjust acquisition of property.

Since opposition parties successfully won control of major cities across Turkey in 2019 — and retained them in last year’s local elections — local officials have often been arrested and removed from office. Members of the pro-Kurdish party have been the main targets over alleged ties to the PKK.

Two co-mayors from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM, were jailed Monday pending trial on terrorism-related charges. A government-appointed trustee was placed to run the Akdeniz municipality in Mersin on Turkey’s south coast.