Politics
CHP mayor in Türkiye’s Izmit detained on corruption charges
Fatma Kaplan Hürriyet, the mayor of the central Izmit district in the northwestern province of Kocaeli, was detained on Monday on corruption charges. Her husband, Murat Hürriyet, and 26 others were also detained in the same investigation. Other suspects include municipal bureaucrats.
Hürriyet, a former lawmaker for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was nominated by the party for the municipal post in 2019. She won a second term in 2024. She and the other suspects are charged with running a criminal organization, bribery, and rigging public tenders. Their detention was ordered by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul, which neighbors Kocaeli. The office has led a series of investigations into CHP-run municipalities in Istanbul, including one that resulted in the imprisonment of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu last year.
The Chief Prosecutor’s Office said the detentions stem from an investigation based on the testimonies of suspects detained earlier, including those who confessed to wrongdoing, as well as statements from secret witnesses. Those statements culminated in a separate probe into past public tenders conducted by the Izmit Municipality.
The office said the owners of companies that submitted bids in public tenders, as well as those whose companies won the contracts, had family ties to municipal officials. It also alleged that companies providing services to the municipality were forced to pay fees to municipal officials in violation of regulations. Hürriyet’s husband is also accused of playing a role in tender processes and the recruitment of municipal staff, despite holding no official position at the municipality.
Dozens of CHP mayors and municipal bureaucrats have been detained or arrested over the past two years in corruption investigations. The majority of the allegations involve bribery in exchange for construction permits, which are otherwise subject to strict regulations, and the rigging of lucrative municipal tenders.
As the main opposition pushes for an early vote, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is still ahead, according to the latest opinion poll by a polling company that gave the closest prediction of the result of the 2023 elections.
The poll by Betimar shows that 35.4% of respondents were willing to vote for the AK Party if an election were held next week. The New Party (YP), which grabbed the main opposition position shortly after its inception, trailed the AK Party at 20.1%.
YP leader Özgür Özel had repeatedly called for rescheduling the 2028 election while he was the chair of the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Özel still advocates rescheduling the election and is overconfident, as he recently claimed that the YP would secure 60% of the vote in an early election.
Betimar’s poll also showed a surprise leap for the Good Party (IP), which scored 9.3% in the poll, ahead of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which usually surpasses it in opinion polls. The CHP, meanwhile, declined to 5.3%, according to the poll, an expected fall given that it lost its main opposition status with the founding of YP by a former CHP lawmaker.
The government, meanwhile, appears intent on holding elections on time. This was underlined by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz. As he announced the medium-term program for the economy on Sunday, Yılmaz noted that the program was prepared on the basis that the elections would be held on time, in the spring or summer of 2028, and that any rescheduling was at the discretion of Parliament. The president also has the authority to call an early election, although President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has so far not openly responded to the opposition’s calls.
Last month, the AK Party marked its 25th anniversary, pledging to provide more services to the country against the backdrop of successive election victories over the past two decades, the longest period the country had been governed without coalition governments since the 1990s.
Sahak Maşalyan, patriarch of the Armenian Orthodox Church in Türkiye, accompanied the Christian congregation to a religious service in the eastern province of Van on Sunday. Maşalyan said that, along with prayers for global peace and brotherhood among people, they had “a special prayer” this year “for the restoration of Türkiye-Armenia ties.”
“People living in these lands deserve peace. We ask God for His blessing,” he said after the religious service at the historic Akdamar Church on the eponymous island in Lake Van.
Maşalyan was accompanied by Armenian faithful from across Türkiye, the United States, Europe, Armenia and neighboring Iran. Bishop Mesrob Parsamyan, primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America, led the religious service.
Türkiye and Armenia took major steps toward rapprochement this year, especially after a visit to Yerevan by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz and regular meetings between delegations from both sides to normalize relations. The two countries agreed to work on a direct railway route and the restoration of a historic bridge on the border.
Türkiye was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia’s independence within months of its declaration in 1991. Yet, one year later, Türkiye began cutting ties with Armenia and shut down the border when Armenia attacked Azerbaijan.
It took 15 years for the first steps toward normalizing relations to be taken. In 2009, the two countries signed protocols to that end, but the political climate in Armenia at the time stalled the normalization efforts. Under incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia has largely abandoned its anti-Turkish rhetoric and introduced the “Real Armenia” doctrine, which promotes peace with its neighbors.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who returned to the chairmanship of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) by pledging to eliminate “thieves and bribe-takers through cleansing,” is intent on carrying out a historic transformation of Türkiye’s oldest party. In less than three months, he has reshuffled the party’s top cadres, and more is on the way, especially through changes to the party’s delegate system. Some delegates have acknowledged that they were paid by associates of Kılıçdaroğlu’s rival, Özgür Özel, in a 2023 party election that Kılıçdaroğlu lost.
While party organizations are being completely overhauled, most lawmakers and mayors suspected of corruption have either been referred to disciplinary boards or subsequently forced to resign and join the New Party (YP). The YP was founded by Özel in July, and although it has reduced the CHP’s presence in Parliament, it is tainted by allegations of corruption involving CHP-run municipalities, whose mayors are mostly supportive of the YP.
In the final stage of the purge pledged by Kılıçdaroğlu, attention has now turned to the party’s delegate structure.
In this context, all eyes in the CHP are on Sept. 9, which is also considered the party’s founding anniversary. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is expected to make important statements on the day when various events will be held. It is anticipated that Kılıçdaroğlu himself will announce the long-awaited congress schedule to the public on that date. CHP provincial and district heads will also be in Ankara for the special occasion.
As part of the congress process in the CHP, elections will be held for provincial and district leadership positions, while congress delegates will be determined from scratch. This will, in a sense, eliminate the controversial delegate structure that has caused major problems for the party for the past three years. The CHP’s grand congress is expected to be convened quickly following the Court of Cassation’s ruling on absolute nullity in the case involving vote-buying allegations in the 2023 intra-party election. The aim is to complete the congress processes at the provincial and district levels by the time the Court of Cassation issues its ruling, which will either validate or nullify Kılıçdaroğlu’s reinstatement.
Bribery allegations overshadowed the CHP’s 2023 congress, in which Kılıçdaroğlu unexpectedly lost the chairmanship by a very narrow margin. Rumors that Özel and Imamoğlu had bought the votes of hundreds of delegates in exchange for money were brought before the courts, and the allegations were effectively confirmed by the absolute-nullity ruling issued by the regional appeals court recently. Former Istanbul Mayor Imamoğlu, who was arrested last year on charges of municipal corruption, was a key figure within the CHP. Prior to the intra-party election, he was caught on video at a meeting where he schemed with other party figures to support Özel against Kılıçdaroğlu, who had helped his rise in the party.
Özel’s supporters have accused Kılıçdaroğlu of attempting to undermine the CHP’s prospects of winning the next presidential election under Özel’s leadership, with some of his allies going as far as branding the former chair a “traitor.”
Kılıçdaroğlu, meanwhile, has continued to challenge Özel and his supporters, deepening the political rupture that eventually contributed to the establishment of the YP.
In August, the CHP referred 49 members to disciplinary proceedings over allegations that they worked for another political party while remaining members of the CHP, party spokesperson Müslim Sarı announced. Sarı said the party had previously warned that working for another political party while remaining within the CHP would be considered both unethical and subject to disciplinary rules.
Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi’s killing in the occupied West Bank on Sept. 6, 2024, was another bitter loss for peaceful activism against Israel’s brutal occupation of the Palestinian territories. Two years after the incident, her family says there has been virtually no progress toward accountability for her death.
“It’s exactly where it was on day one,” Hamid Ali, Eygi’s husband, told Anadolu Agency (AA) from his home in Seattle. “We’re still asking for the same thing, which is an investigation as a first step toward getting justice for her.”
Eygi, 26, a dual Turkish U.S. citizen, was killed while participating in a protest against Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank town of Beita, near Nablus.
The Israeli military said she was hit “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli military fire that “was not aimed at her” as its forces fired at protesters allegedly throwing rocks.
Witnesses and her family disputed the Israeli account, saying she was deliberately targeted during a peaceful protest.
A Washington Post investigation found that she was shot around 20 minutes after clashes had ended, when protesters had already retreated more than 200 yards (182 meters) from Israeli forces.
Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Eygi’s killing “unprovoked and unjustified” days after the shooting.
But two years later, the U.S. has not opened an independent investigation into her death despite repeated calls from her family and members of Congress.
Washington instead deferred to an Israeli inquiry that has never produced a public finding.
For Eygi’s father, Mehmet Suat Eygi, the absence of an investigation has left little hope that the U.S. will deliver the accountability his family has sought.
“I don’t have much hope for justice because America is the financier of Aysenur’s killing. America therefore cannot investigate itself,” he told AA.
The lack of movement in Eygi’s case comes as the number of Americans killed by Israeli forces or settlers has continued to grow.
Eygi is among 14 U.S. citizens killed by Israeli forces or settlers since 2003, according to the rights group DAWN, which tracks the cases. None has resulted in a criminal prosecution.
The list includes Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old beaten to death by settlers in the West Bank in July 2025, and Nasrallah Abu Siyam, a 19-year-old shot near Jerusalem in February.
Brad Parker, associate director of policy at the Center for Constitutional Rights and part of the legal team supporting Eygi’s family, said two years have brought no U.S. criminal investigation or other accountability measures.
“There are no new developments on the investigation front, criminal investigation from the U.S., or really anything focused on accountability for Ayşenur’s killing,” he said. “There’s absolutely no follow-up, no update.”
He added that the family has little confidence that an Israeli-led investigation would produce meaningful accountability, pointing to previous cases, including that of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American journalist for Al Jazeera who was fatally shot on May 11, 2022.
“There’s no indication that the Trump administration is interested in holding perpetrators accountable for killing American citizens in the West Bank, in Gaza, sort of anywhere,” he said. “The impunity that exists is perpetuated over the years by lack of action by the U.S. government,” Parker added.
With no independent federal investigation, the family’s push for accountability has increasingly extended to Washington state, where Eygi grew up.
A joint memorial calling for a U.S. investigation into her death advanced through the state Legislature this year but failed to win final passage before the end of the legislative session. “The support we got from the members of the Washington State Legislature in that memorial was so heartening,” Ali said.
He attributed its failure primarily to timing and legislative maneuvering, saying Republicans in the Washington Statehouse used the limited time remaining in the session as leverage over other issues.
“I don’t think it was because of lack of support. I think it was just more of a strategical kind of failure,” Ali said.
‘A symbol’
While pursuing accountability, Eygi’s family and friends have also sought to preserve her memory in the community where she grew up.
Around her birthday on July 27, friends and supporters gathered in Seattle to paint a community mural of her portrait, designed by artist James Hesketh. “It’s not all negative. We’ve been building community,” Ali said.
He said the family hopes Eygi’s legacy will encourage ordinary people to believe their actions can matter.
“She’s become a symbol, and we can’t really help that,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean that what she did was exceptional.
“I don’t think she thought by going to the West Bank and being a part of the protests, she was going to change the tide of the war or free Palestine,” he added. “But she understood that you can do something, and it does make a difference. It does have an effect.”
For Eygi’s father, the two-year anniversary is also a measure of a loss that time has done little to diminish. “It is impossible to get used to a life without Ayşenur. She is always on our minds, every second,” he said.
Despite the lack of accountability, he said Eygi’s emergence as a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians and protests against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza was a source of pride. “Ultimately, justice has not been served. What remains for us is a life without Ayşenur.”
AA asked the U.S. State Department whether it supports an independent investigation into Eygi’s killing, given the lack of accountability from Israel’s inquiry.
“The Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans. Embassy Jerusalem remained in touch with the family of Ayşenur Eygi and the Government of Israel as it investigated this case,” it said.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. The Israeli military also did not respond.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry called Eygi’s killing a “murder committed by the Netanyahu government,” and Turkish prosecutors opened their own investigation into her death.
As Eygi’s family enters a third year without the independent U.S. investigation it first demanded after her killing, Ali said it is preparing for a longer fight.
“We’ve been developing a long-term strategy and what we want to do for Ayşenur, for her legacy, but also to help others, unfortunately, who might be in a similar situation,” he said.
A suspected member of the Daesh terrorist group who was allegedly planning an attack in Türkiye was killed after opening fire on police during an operation in Istanbul, local authorities said Friday.
The 21-year-old suspect, identified as Berkan Çil, was targeted in a joint operation coordinated by Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the Istanbul Police Department, according to a statement from the Istanbul Governor’s Office.
Authorities said intelligence indicated that Çil had links to Daesh and was suspected of planning a terrorist attack in Türkiye.
Police initially launched operations at two addresses in two districts in Istanbul on Thursday as part of efforts to apprehend the suspect. Çil managed to escape during the raids, prompting security forces to expand their search, according to local media reports.
Investigators later determined that Çil had purchased a ticket for a bus scheduled to depart from the Sultanbeyli Bus Terminal on Istanbul’s Asian side.
A 49-year-old civilian, identified as Tahsin P., was wounded during the exchange of gunfire at the terminal.
A search of G.Ç.’s residence uncovered an unlicensed handgun, 200 rounds of ammunition and a large amount of digital material. Bomb disposal and investigation teams were examining the substances, according to authorities.
The Istanbul Governor’s Office said an investigation into the incident was ongoing. Istanbul Governor Davut Gül praised the intelligence agency and police for the operation in a statement posted on social media.
“I sincerely congratulate our National Intelligence Organization and Istanbul Police Department, which are resolutely fighting terrorist elements targeting the peace of our nation and the security of our state,” Gül said.
Turkish security forces regularly conduct operations against suspected Daesh members and networks across the country. Authorities have stepped up counterterrorism operations aimed at identifying suspected cells, disrupting financing and preventing potential attacks.
Turkish prosecutors on Friday sought the arrest of a doctor on suspicion of false testimony as part of a widening investigation into the 2016 death of former Transport Minister Arif Ahmet Denizolgun.
Dr. Nurettin Demirkol was detained and questioned before being referred to a criminal judgeship of peace with a request for his arrest, according to a referral document issued by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The investigation centers on alleged inconsistencies between Demirkol’s testimony and records of emergency calls made following Denizolgun’s death on Sept. 7, 2016.
Prosecutors said Demirkol testified as a witness on Aug. 26 that he did not know who had reported the death or when the report was made. He also said he was not Denizolgun’s doctor and had not considered the death suspicious.
However, a transcript of calls to the 155 police emergency line showed that Demirkol himself reported the death, identified himself as the family’s doctor and described it as an “unexpected, suspicious sudden death,” according to prosecutors.
According to the Sabah newspaper, the records also showed that Demirkol called police again four minutes later and identified himself by name.
Prosecutors said phone records and testimony from other witnesses also contradicted Demirkol’s account regarding when people arrived at and left the scene.
When questioned again as a suspect about the alleged inconsistencies, Demirkol repeatedly said he could not remember the details, according to the referral document.
Prosecutors said there was strong suspicion that Demirkol had committed the offense of false testimony and requested that he be formally arrested pending further proceedings.
The development is the latest in an expanding investigation into Denizolgun’s death.
Prosecutors ordered his grave exhumed in August after allegations were raised about his cause of death and the original autopsy. Forensic experts collected samples from the grave on Aug. 19 for renewed examination.
The Bakırköy prosecutor’s office later said a review of the autopsy had identified the death as suspicious and that an investigation into suspected homicide was continuing against several people, including Alihan Kuriş.
Kuriş, who took control of the group in 2016, was among 37 people detained in a nationwide operation last month targeting what prosecutors describe as an alleged profit-driven criminal organization.
Evidence gathered following the exhumation was referred to the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute for further examination.
-
Politics3 days agoTürkiye detains 10 over support for FETÖ assassination team member
-
Economy3 days agoUS job market surprises in potential boon to Trump ahead of midterms
-
Politics3 days agoIsrael’s ‘expansionist’ policies require global action: Ankara
-
Economy3 days agoTrump says he’ll stop trading with some nations if Fed doesn’t cut rates
-
Economy3 days agoTürkiye’s services exports hit record of nearly $125 billion
-
Economy1 day agoTürkiye outlines new 2027-2029 Medium-Term Program
-
Refugees3 days agoUS hits Turkish bank with sanctions over alleged ties to Iran
-
Economy3 days agoGlobal transition will fail without affordable climate finance: Türkiye