ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Turkish police on Tuesday arrested 120 suspects in the opposition bastion of Izmir as part of a large-scale corruption investigation into the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, where the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) holds sway, including former mayor Tunc Soyer and numerous senior officials.
"We are facing a process similar to what happened in Istanbul,” Murat Bakan, CHP’s vice president, wrote on X, referring to Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul’s former mayor, and the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was arrested on March 19 on similar charges.
The investigation is reportedly initiated by the Izmir Public Prosecutor's Office and focuses on allegations of corruption, issuing a detention order for 157 individuals.
"These dawn arrests were not a legal obligation, but a clear political choice," Bakan wrote, saying that many of those detained had already been under investigation.
"If they had been called to testify, they would have done so," he said, adding Turkey’s judicial system does not respect the rule of law, but “acting on instructions.”
“We are fighting for an independent judiciary,” the CHP vice president said. “But when faced with reality, we see that this remains merely a wish."
CHP is currently the second largest party in the Turkish parliament and is considered the main opposition party to the ruling AKP.
Tensions are high between CHP and Turkish President Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) over the arrest of Imanoglu, who is also CHP's candidate in the run for Turkish presidency against the incumbent president in the presidential elections set to take place in 2028.
Izmir is Turkey's third largest metropolitan city.
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