Turkey Court Convicts Five Opposition Mayors in Corruption Trial
A Turkish court sentenced five CHP mayors to prison for corruption, a case critics say targets the opposition.
An Istanbul court on Monday convicted five mayors from Turkey's main opposition party on corruption charges, in a case that has drawn criticism from opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.
The charges included bribery, bid-rigging, and fraud related to municipal contracts. Critics allege the trial was designed to weaken the Republican People's Party (CHP), pointing to the use of secret witnesses and the practice of defendants testifying against others in exchange for reduced sentences. The government maintains that the judiciary operates independently and without political interference.
The case centered on businessman Aziz Ihsan Aktas, who was accused of securing municipal tenders through corrupt means. Aktas initially denied the allegations but later cooperated with prosecutors under Turkey's "effective repentance" law, claiming he provided cash, cars, and other bribes to mayors and officials. He was sentenced to two years and eight months for bid-rigging but acquitted of bribery.
Riza Akpolat, the mayor of Istanbul's Besiktas district, received the harshest sentence: 23 years and three months for accepting bribes, money laundering, and bid-rigging. The other four convicted mayors, all removed from office after their arrests, received sentences ranging from five to eight years.
The seven-month trial, held near Silivri Prison, involved 200 defendants. Some were convicted, others acquitted, though details of their cases were not immediately available. Many defendants denied knowing Aktas and accused him of giving false testimony, noting that previous audits had found no irregularities in the tenders.
Aktas was arrested in January last year, prompting investigations into CHP-run districts in Istanbul and the southern municipalities of Adana and Adiyaman. Critics have noted that municipalities controlled by Erdogan's party that also did business with Aktas were not investigated as thoroughly.
Akpolat told the court that investigators offered to drop charges if he testified in a separate probe into the CHP's 2023 congress. That investigation led to a court ordering the removal of the party's top leadership in May over voting irregularities. Many CHP members followed deposed leader Ozgur Ozel to the New Party, now the largest opposition group in parliament.
The CHP won major cities in the 2019 local elections, including Istanbul and Ankara, and repeated those wins in 2024. Since then, numerous court cases have been brought against opposition figures. Ekrem Imamoglu, the metropolitan mayor of Istanbul and a leading opposition challenger to Erdogan, has been jailed since March last year. He faces multiple cases, including corruption allegations similar to those in the Aktas case, and could face a sentence exceeding 2,300 years if convicted.