Turkish authorities have carried out new raids targeting officials linked to two of the country’s largest opposition-controlled city administrations, detaining more than 30 people as part of ongoing, multi-wave investigations into alleged bribery, bid-rigging and organised crime.

Turkish authorities have launched a new round of arrests targeting officials linked to the opposition-run Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), detaining 14 people in the latest phase of a sprawling investigation into allegations by the central government of corruption and links to terrorist organisations. This morning (August 12), the Istanbul Gendarmerie conducted a raid targeting associates of Taner Çetin, who heads the municipality’s Press and Public Relations department. Çetin himself was arrested in May after being accused of manipulating contracts to benefit companies linked to him and accepting bribes in return.

Among those detained this time are two of Çetin’s drivers, Doğukan Arıcı and İlkay Onok, along with his wife Canan Çetin and son Örsan Çetin, as well as other municipal employees and business associates. Prosecutors accuse them of membership in a criminal organisation, bribery, aggravated fraud, and bid-rigging.

Meanwhile, in the southern city of Antalya, authorities detained 17 people in the fourth wave of an ongoing bribery investigation targeting the metropolitan municipality, also governed by the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). The detainees include owners of jewellery shops and currency exchange offices, who are alleged to have helped conceal illegal payments.

According to the Antalya Public Prosecutor’s Office, several contractors who secured municipal tenders — identified by the initials A.A., B.Ç., M.Y., and Y.Y. — paid bribes totalling about 195 million Turkish lira (around US$6 million) to Mayor Muhittin Böcek to facilitate the receipt of contract payments. Investigations reveal that some funds were transferred to a currency exchange bureau in the coastal district of Finike, while others were handed over in cash and later converted into gold for safekeeping.

Mayor Böcek was arrested in June alongside his son, Mustafa Gökhan Böcek,........

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