Turkish Authorities Arrest Mayors Amid Intensifying Crackdown; European Envoy Visits Imamoğlu in Prison

Istanbul, Turkey — Turkish authorities have detained five mayors and issued arrest warrants for dozens of other officials in an escalating crackdown that appears focused on Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, who remains imprisoned on widely criticized political charges. 

Police raids targeted municipal offices, resulting in the detention of three district mayors in Istanbul along with a former deputy from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). Additionally, two CHP-affiliated mayors in the southern province of Adana were arrested. Turkish media report the total number of detainees has reached about thirty. 

In a related development, Nacho Sánchez Amor, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, visited Imamoğlu at Silivri prison. After the visit, Sánchez Amor said that public protests following Imamoğlu’s arrest disrupted the government’s efforts to appoint a trustee to oversee Istanbul’s municipality. 

He described Imamoğlu’s trial as entirely fabricated and stressed that the politicization of the judiciary to marginalize opposition figures poses a significant obstacle to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union. Sánchez Amor noted that Imamoğlu’s imprisonment followed the failure of candidates from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to win recent elections. 

This wave of arrests highlights the intensifying political repression in Turkey, particularly targeting opposition leaders amid mounting tensions ahead of upcoming local and national elections.