Politics
Türkiye cracks down on tentacles of corruption octopus with new ops
A fifth wave of operations centered on Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) and municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) led to the detention of 34 people as of Sunday. Authorities have launched anti-corruption operations on Saturday and raided 47 locations. Seven suspects remain at large.
CHP-run municipalities are accused of taking bribes and irregularities in public tenders. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has recently described operations and allegations as “tentacles of an octopus” stretching across many administrative bodies running the municipalities.
Although CHP-run municipalities were already under investigation and several mayors were detained for corruption last year, IBB has been under the spotlight as its high-profile mayor was arrested in March on graft charges. Digging deeper into an alleged criminal network run by former Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu and expanding another investigation linked to a businessman who was awarded a lucrative contract by district municipalities, investigators launched Saturday’s operations against municipality officials, mayors and a former CHP lawmaker. Operations are the culmination of four separate investigations and are mainly based on the confessions of Aziz Ihsan Aktaş, a businessman identified as the head of a criminal network active in municipalities. Aktaş’s confessions unveiled the scale of corruption at IBB, the municipality of Beşiktaş, whose mayor was detained last year, and at Büyükçekmece Municipality, whose mayor, Hasan Akgün, was detained on Saturday. The investigation also extended to Adana, a southern province; the mayors of Adana’s Seyhan and Ceyhan municipalities were also detained.
Among other prominent names in the case are Aykut Erdoğdu, a former lawmaker for CHP, the party’s assembly member Baki Aydöner, mayors of Istanbul’s Avcılar and Gaziosmanpaşa districts, and the head of ISFALT, an asphalt production subsidiary of IBB.
Media outlets reported on Sunday that a search of premises owned by some suspects led to the discovery of a large cache of dollars and gold, including a search of the residences of Akgün and his son-in-law.
The Sabah newspaper reported that Aktaş appealed to authorities on April 30 to benefit from leniency in sentencing in exchange for collaboration with authorities. Aktaş, who was arrested on Jan. 17, detailed how municipalities that awarded contracts to his companies enriched themselves in the process. He confessed that he paid bribes to mayors and deputy mayors to win tenders and, in some cases, had to buy properties or vehicles belonging to those people at prices far higher than their real value, instead of paying them bribes in cash, in order to avoid detection. Aktaş said he was also forced to make additional payments and donate vehicles to mayoral candidates of the CHP before the 2024 municipal polls, to be used in their election campaigns. He said he also paid bribes to numerous municipal officials for the acquisition of a valuable plot of land in the district of Gaziosmanpaşa.
Waves of corruption
The CHP has claimed that anti-graft operations against municipalities were politically motivated, but officials deny it and point to the independence of the judiciary, which carries out the operations. In the first wave of 2025 operations against municipalities, Imamoğlu and 105 others were detained on March 19 and remain incarcerated in pretrial detention. Looking to earn popularity for Imamoğlu, the CHP has declared him its presidential candidate for the upcoming elections, although annulment of his university diploma days before his detention over irregularities made the former mayor ineligible to run for top office.
In the second wave of operations on April 25, 50 people were detained, including the head of IBB’s water utility and other top municipal officials. On May 22, authorities ordered the detention of 22 suspects in an investigation into irregular public tenders by IBB’s media and culture subsidiaries. Two days later, seven more people were detained and subsequently arrested over corruption in tenders by another IBB subsidiary. Investigation expanded on May 23 and led to the detention of 44 people working at IBB’s other subsidiaries and people associated with them.
According to Sabah’s report, authorities also investigated the 2019 celebrations for Republic Day organized by the Beşiktaş municipality. Four municipal officials, including the current deputy mayors of Avcılar and Büyükçekmece, are accused of conspiring to commit corruption by awarding the contract for organizing the celebrations to a front company and squandering public resources in the process.
The report says recent detentions include two owners of a company that was awarded a lucrative contract by IBB. CHP’s deputy chair, Özgür Karabat, serves as financial consultant for the company, which earned more than TL 19 billion in tenders in the past five years.
According to the Sabah report, former lawmaker Erdoğdu is accused of acting as an intermediary for bribe takers and companies paying bribes. The report says Erdoğdu oversaw the payment of bribes to an IBB subsidiary.
In a speech last week, President Erdoğan hit out at CHP for defending Imamoğlu and others detained on corruption charges.
“If you don’t work for the nation, you are either a ‘rantçı’ (profiteer) or a ‘bantçı’ (someone who uses tape to conceal something),” to the applause of the audience. “Bantçı” in this case refers to a bodyguard of Imamoğlu who was captured in footage as he put tape on security cameras before Imamoğlu’s secretive meeting at a hotel with fellow bureaucrats of IBB. Media outlets reported that the footage emerged in the investigation into the former mayor’s alleged wrongdoings, raising suspicions about the nature of the meeting, which was followed and preceded by more at the same hotel. Some reports claimed that the meeting and others were the venue of discussions on how to share illegal profits Imamoğlu and others gained through graft, from rigging public tenders to bribery in exchange for building permits.
“You see what happened to profiteers, you see what state they drove Istanbul into. We witnessed how they terrorized the squares. They do not tolerate anyone other than themselves. They try to bully anyone who disagrees with them, they attack anyone who does not side with thieves,” Erdoğan said. The CHP held pro-Imamoğlu rallies, claiming the innocence of the mayor, after Imamoğlu’s arrest in March. Rallies in Istanbul and other cities escalated into violent riots. The CHP supporters also launched social media campaigns against celebrities not endorsing the rallies, while the party’s leader, Özgür Özel, called for a boycott of companies he accused of serving the government’s interests, as well as against broadcasters not broadcasting the rallies live.
The president stated that they witnessed a new act of corruption surfacing “almost every day” in the investigation into what he called a criminal organization. “You see how they looted Istanbul’s resources. (The authorities) reveal tentacles of an octopus extending from Istanbul to other cities, to abroad. Their own friends confess how they extorted money and received bribes,” Erdoğan said.
Ertan Yıldız, a top IBB bureaucrat, has also recently collaborated with authorities and unveiled a scheme of tender rigging and bribes organized by Imamoğlu and his associates at the municipality.
“Their former partners in crime speak about cash carried by suitcases, about a mob order established in Istanbul. But the CHP has no shame. They are supposed to apologize to the people of Istanbul they betrayed, but instead, they threaten judges and prosecutors and journalists,” Erdoğan said, referring to past remarks by Özel and other top names of the CHP who threatened judiciary members with being tried in the future for the investigation into Imamoğlu’s alleged wrongdoings.
“Their friends who confess are accused of defaming (the detained municipal officials). Özgür Özel is acting like a messenger for a criminal organization, not as a main opposition leader. It is worrying. It is worrying to see this sorry state the CHP was pushed to,” Erdoğan said.
“You can’t remove this stain of corruption. You can’t escape being held accountable. The Turkish judiciary’s job is to stop hands from stealing from public funds. We will not turn a blind eye to this banditry. Nor will we leave our Istanbul to its fate,” Erdoğan added.
Greece’s expanding defense alliances and armament programs have fueled concerns that they may come at odds with neighboring Türkiye, with which it still has a lingering dispute over maritime borders. Although Ankara and Athens appear committed to rapprochement after years of hostilities, Greece’s moves risk angering its neighbor.
The Greek military said on Wednesday that it will soon sign a deal to purchase two Italian multi-purpose FREMM frigates as part of a plan to invest billions of euros in its armed forces. Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, meanwhile, said on Wednesday that they wanted to prevent crises but admitted that Greece’s recent alliance with Israel had increased tensions with Türkiye.
“There is no danger on the ground. We have all scenarios ready for any tension, ready to respond on the ground,” Gerapetritis told Greece’s SKAI TV.
His remarks followed last week’s statements by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in which he insisted that Greece had “a right” to extend its maritime borders by 12 nautical miles in the Aegean, a major source of friction with Türkiye, which once vowed to declare war if Greece goes ahead with such a decision.
The agreement with Italy is set to be signed on September 8 in Rome for the so-called Bergamini-class frigates, which are modern warships designed for anti-submarine warfare, air defense and to engage targets at sea and on land. The first frigate will be handed over to the Greek Navy in the first half of 2028, and the second in the first half of 2029, according to the General Staff.
Greek shipyards are also set to participate in the maintenance and adaptation of the vessels, the Defense Ministry said. The purchase is part of Greece’s long-running program to modernize its armed forces, at a cost of more than 25 billion euros ($29.2 billion) by 2030.
In recent years, Greece has ordered four French FDI frigates and also plans to modernize its four MEKO-class frigates.
In parallel, the country is expanding its air and missile defense capabilities. Recent projects include the purchase of the multilayered “Achilles Shield” system, which is set to include Israeli systems from Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries, as well as additional drones and reconnaissance technology. The agreement with Italy provides for the possibility of acquiring further FREMM frigates in the future, the Greek press reported.
Türkiye, meanwhile, is currently building more than 50 warships simultaneously for both domestic and foreign customers, according to a statement last month by its Naval Forces commander.
The country also plans to inaugurate its locally made aircraft carrier by the end of 2027. The carrier will have a capacity to host 52 aerial vehicles and 2,500 personnel.
Under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s leadership, Türkiye has pursued a rapprochement with Greece after decades of lukewarm diplomatic ties and nearly two decades after the countries came close to an all-out war over their Aegean dispute. Erdoğan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis have met several times over the past two years, but their warm meetings have done little to change the state of relations over the maritime dispute.
Last week, Erdoğan warned Greece not to arm the Aegean islands in violation of past treaties.
“Greece should know that Türkiye has no intention of grabbing the territory of any other country, but Türkiye also has no intention of allowing anyone to violate its rights. Ignoring international treaties will not benefit anyone. Anyone who interprets Türkiye’s level-headed approach based on common sense as weakness is making a grave mistake. Greece should reverse course and stop arming demilitarized islands. History is a good guide for those who can learn from the past,” Erdoğan told journalists as he was returning from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Kyrgyzstan.
Under the Achilles Shield deal signed earlier this month, Israel will supply Greece with the David’s Sling and SPYDER systems, as well as the BARAK MX system made by Israel Aerospace Industries, along with MMR multi-mission radars for air surveillance manufactured by IAI unit ELTA Systems.
David’s Sling was used by Israel to intercept Iranian missiles during the war with Iran this year. Greece is the second customer for the system, after Finland. Athens plans to spend about 28 billion euros by 2036 to build the Achilles Shield multilayered anti-ballistic, anti-aircraft and anti-drone system and to buy up to 40 F-35 fighter jets from the U.S.
Türkiye’s third-largest city, Izmir, observed the 104th anniversary of its liberation from occupying Greek forces on Wednesday. Events and parades were held in the Aegean city to celebrate the liberation, while at a more solemn ceremony, locals remembered Hasan Tahsin, a journalist who fired the first shot of resistance against the occupiers.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also issued a message on the occasion, remembering Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and “all the other heroes who crowned our National Struggle with victory.”
Izmir’s liberation, during the period following World War I that led to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, was the last chapter in Türkiye’s National Struggle, which included the War of Independence against an assortment of foreign powers occupying Anatolia. It marked the conclusion of the Great Offensive launched by Atatürk in central Anatolia.
Izmir was invaded by Greek forces on May 15, 1919, four days before Atatürk launched a campaign in which he secretly mobilized the Turkish nation to fight against the occupiers. Encouraged by victory in the Battle of Dumlupınar, where Greek forces fled in retreat from the newly pieced together Turkish army, Atatürk ordered his troops to “advance to the Mediterranean,” a historic order that paved the way for the pursuit of Greek troops through central and western Türkiye.
The army eventually managed to push Greek forces toward the Aegean, giving rise to the expression “pushing the Greeks into the sea.” However, this was not a literal expression, as Greek troops took shelter aboard Allied vessels waiting off the shores of Izmir. In the Greek narrative, the events are known as the Asia Minor Catastrophe.
Türkiye hopes an upcoming disarmament process will contribute to stability in Iraq and pave the way for broader regional peace as the PKK and its affiliates lay down their arms, Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş said Tuesday.
Kurtulmuş made the remarks at a joint news conference with Iraqi Parliament Speaker Heybet Halbusi following bilateral and delegation-level talks at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara.
Kurtulmuş said he hoped the disarmament process, expected to begin next month, would help turn Iraq into a region of peace and stability and that the laying down of arms by the PKK and its affiliates would contribute to peace across Syria.
He linked the process to Türkiye’s broader “terror-free Türkiye” and “terror-free region” initiatives, saying countries in the region should strengthen cooperation and overcome divisions that have persisted for more than a century.
“Now, with the terror-free Türkiye process and the terror-free region process, we are bringing our scattered pieces together,” Kurtulmuş noted. “We are uniting.”
He also pointed to what he described as growing momentum in Türkiye-Iraq relations, citing 27 agreements and memorandums signed during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Iraq in 2024 and additional strategic decisions and agreements reached during Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Zeydi’s visit to Türkiye in July.
Kurtulmuş underlined that the Development Road Project was another key pillar of bilateral and regional cooperation.
The planned transport corridor is intended to strengthen connectivity between Asia and Europe through Iraq and Türkiye while contributing to economic development in both countries and the wider region.
Kurtulmuş said Ankara reiterated its full support for steps needed to advance the project and discussed ways to accelerate its implementation.
He said Türkiye hoped the Development Road would become operational with all its components as soon as possible.
The project, he added, would go beyond economic benefits by connecting communities, cities and cultures under a “win-win” approach.
Türkiye on Tuesday threw its support behind a 12-nation initiative led by the United Kingdom, France and Canada to ban trade and business dealings with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling for broader international action against Israel’s unlawful settlement expansion.
The Foreign Ministry said Ankara welcomed and supported measures taken by the 12 countries targeting commercial ties with illegal settlements.
“Israel’s efforts to eliminate the two-state solution are intensifying by the day,” the ministry said, warning that illegal settlements have evolved into a “systematic policy of occupation” that threatens the existence of a Palestinian state.
The ministry also said violence by illegal Israeli settlers had reached the level of “ethnic cleansing.”
Ankara argued that an adequate international response to Israel’s occupation policies has become essential to achieving a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establishing a just and lasting peace in the region.
Against this backdrop, Türkiye called on other responsible members of the international community to adopt similar measures against illegal settlements.
Türkiye reiterated that it would continue working toward the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state with territorial integrity, based on the 1967 borders and with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a series of diplomatic meetings in Ankara on Tuesday, hosting U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack, U.S. Rep. Daniel Issa and the head of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), according to Foreign Ministry sources.
Fidan met with Barrack, who also serves as the U.S. special envoy for Syria and Iraq, alongside Issa, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, ministry sources said.
No further details were immediately provided on the agenda or issues discussed during the meeting.
Separately, Fidan received Organization of Turkic States Secretary-General Kubanychbek Omuraliev in Ankara, the ministry said in a statement.
The meetings came as Ankara maintains diplomatic engagement with Washington on regional issues, particularly developments in neighboring Syria and Iraq, while continuing efforts to deepen cooperation among Turkic states.
The Republic of Türkiye’s first political party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), marked its 103rd anniversary on Wednesday. The party’s top officials paid a visit to Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of its founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as the CHP struggles to survive after a major rift.
Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu led a delegation to the mausoleum and commemorated both Atatürk, who was also the first president of Türkiye, and another anniversary: the liberation of the western city of Izmir, a CHP stronghold, from occupying Greek forces 104 years ago. The delegation also visited the tomb of Ismet Inönü, Türkiye’s second president and the CHP’s second chairperson, who is buried near Anıtkabir.
Until July, the CHP was Türkiye’s main opposition party. When the party’s ousted chairperson Özgür Özel founded the New Party (YP), most of its lawmakers left the CHP.
The CHP’s original name was the “People’s Party,” and “Republican” was added to the name in 1924.
One of the world’s oldest political parties, the CHP remained in power from 1923 to 1950 and was shut down following the 1980 military coup. The party was later reopened in 1992.
Except for those who served in an acting capacity, the CHP has been led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Ismet Inönü, Bülent Ecevit, Hikmet Çetin, Altan Öymen, Deniz Baykal, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Özgür Özel.
The CHP considers the Sivas Congress its first party congress. Its second congress, held on Oct. 15, 1927, went down in history as the congress where Atatürk delivered his “Great Speech” (“Nutuk”).
During the congress, Atatürk spoke for a total of 36 hours and 33 minutes between Oct. 15 and 20, describing, based on documents, all stages of the National War of Independence that began on May 19, 1919, as well as the circumstances surrounding the establishment of the Republic of Türkiye. At the congress, which concluded with his “Address to the Youth,” “Republicanism, Populism, Nationalism and Secularism” were established as the party’s four fundamental principles.
At the CHP’s third ordinary congress, held on May 10, 1931, “Statism and Revolutionism” were added to the party’s principles. This completed the process of incorporating the six principles that formed the philosophy behind the “Six Arrows,” which would become the party’s emblem, into its program and bylaws.
The party held its first extraordinary congress on Dec. 26, 1938, following Atatürk’s death. Ismet Inönü, who was elected chair, held the position for approximately 33 years.
Following Inönü’s resignation, Bülent Ecevit took over as party chair at the sixth extraordinary congress held on May 14, 1972. The 24th Ordinary Congress, held on May 24, 1979, was the CHP’s last congress under Ecevit’s leadership. After the Sept. 12, 1980 coup, Ecevit announced in a petition dated Oct. 30, 1980, that he had resigned as party chair and never returned to the CHP.
The party, which had been shut down following the coup, returned to the political scene on Sept. 9, 1992, with Deniz Baykal elected as its chairperson during the congress held that day.
Following the merger of the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) and the CHP on Feb. 18, 1995, Hikmet Çetin was appointed party chairperson. Deniz Baykal was reelected chair at the Ordinary Congress held on Sept. 9, 1995.
Baykal resigned on April 21, 1999, after his party failed to pass the electoral threshold in the general elections held on April 18, 1999. Altan Öymen, who was elected chair at the congress following Baykal’s resignation, held the position for 15 months. At the 11th Extraordinary Congress held on Sept. 30, 2000, Baykal was once again elected chair.
The CHP returned to Parliament as the main opposition party in the general elections held on Nov. 3, 2002, winning 19.4% of the vote.
After Deniz Baykal resigned on May 10, 2010, over secretly recorded footage allegedly showing an extramarital affair, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was elected the CHP’s seventh chair at the party’s 33rd Ordinary Congress.
Kılıçdaroğlu served as CHP chair for 13 years before facing Manisa lawmaker Özgür Özel at the party’s 38th Ordinary Congress, held on Nov. 4-5, 2023.
Since no candidate secured a simple majority in the first round, the vote went to a second round. Following the second-round vote, Özgür Özel was elected the CHP’s new chair with 812 votes.
Özel was reelected chairperson at the 21st Extraordinary Congress held on April 6, 2025, the 22nd Extraordinary Congress held on Sept. 21, 2025, and the 39th Ordinary Congress held on Nov. 28-30, 2025.
Following the CHP’s 38th Ordinary Congress, at which Özgür Özel was elected party chair, former Hatay Mayor Lütfü Savaş and several party delegates took the matter to court, arguing that the congress had been held in violation of the principles of internal party democracy, equality and free will, and seeking its annulment. The case focused on allegations of vote-buying by Özel’s supporters. A trial on the matter concluded in May, with a court in Ankara ruling that the 2023 intraparty election was subject to “absolute nullity” and ordering the reinstatement of Kılıçdaroğlu.
After being removed from office by the court, Özel objected to the court’s interim ruling on May 22 and filed an individual appeal.
Following an application by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s lawyer, CHP headquarters were evacuated by police on May 24. Özel left the party headquarters with his supporters and walked to Parliament.
One day before the evacuation, on May 23, Özel made a countermove by being reelected as CHP parliamentary group chair at a closed-door group meeting held by the CHP in Parliament.
Following the absolute-nullity ruling, Kılıçdaroğlu held a public gathering at the party headquarters on May 30, meeting with party members at the headquarters for the first time in two and a half years.
At a meeting of the Party Assembly on June 2, Kılıçdaroğlu selected members of the Central Executive Board from among those who remained party members and had served on the Party Assembly elected at the 37th Ordinary Congress, where he was last elected chairperson, and resumed party activities.
From that date onward, a process that Kılıçdaroğlu described as “cleansing” began within the CHP. Numerous party members, including nine lawmakers, were referred to the High Disciplinary Board with requests for their definitive expulsion, while appointments were made to provincial and district party leadership positions in all 81 provinces and their districts. The “cleansing” targeted CHP members involved in corruption cases, including mayors who were arrested on such charges while Özel was leading the party.
Later, 91 lawmakers resigned from the CHP and founded the YP under Özgür Özel’s leadership, reducing the CHP’s number of seats in Parliament to 44. As a result, the CHP lost its position as the main opposition party in Parliament and became the fifth-largest party in terms of number of seats.
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