ISTANBUL: The mayors of three major cities in southern Turkey were arrested Saturday, state-run media reported, joining a growing list of opposition figures detained since the mayor of Istanbul was imprisoned in March.
Abdurrahman Tutdere, the mayor of Adiyaman, and Zeydan Karalar, who heads Adana municipality, were detained in early morning raids, according to Anadolu Agency. Both are members of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP.
The CHP mayor of Antalya, Muhittin Bocek, was arrested with two other suspects in a separate bribery investigation by the Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Anadolu reported.
Karalar was arrested in Istanbul and Tutdere was arrested in the capital, Ankara, where he has a home. Tutdere posted on X that he was being taken to Istanbul.
Ten people, including Karalar and Tutdere, were arrested as part of an investigation by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into allegations involving organized crime, bribery and bid-rigging.
Details of the charges against them were not immediately released by prosecutors but the operation follows the arrests of scores of officials from municipalities controlled by the CHP in recent months.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, widely considered the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ’s 22-year rule, was jailed four months ago over corruption allegations.
The former CHP mayor of Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, and 137 municipal officials were detained earlier this week as part of an investigation into alleged tender-rigging and fraud. On Friday, ex-mayor Tunc Soyer and 59 others were jailed pending trial in what Soyer’s lawyer described as “a clearly unjust, unlawful and politically motivated decision.”
Also Friday, it was reported by state-run media that the CHP mayor of Manavgat, a Mediterranean resort city in Antalya province, and 34 others were detained over alleged corruption.
CHP officials have faced waves of arrests this year that many consider aimed at neutralizing Turkey’s main opposition party. The government insists prosecutors and the judiciary act independently but the arrest of Istanbul’s Imamoglu led to the largest street protests Turkey has seen in more than a decade.
Imamoglu was officially nominated as his party’s presidential candidate following his imprisonment. Turkey’s next election is due in 2028 but could come sooner.
The crackdown comes a year after the CHP made significant gains in local elections. Adiyaman, which was severely affected by the 2023 earthquake, was among several cities previously considered strongholds for Erdogan to fall to the opposition.
3 mayors arrested in southern Turkey as part of crackdown on opposition
https://arab.news/gwrbs
3 mayors arrested in southern Turkey as part of crackdown on opposition
- Abdurrahman Tutdere, the mayor of Adiyaman, and Zeydan Karalar, who heads Adana municipality, were detained in early morning raids
Libya holds funeral for military officials killed in plane crash
- Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah praises Gen. Mohammed Ali Ahmad Al-Haddad for organizing the military
TRIPOLI: Libya on Saturday held a military funeral for the military chief of western Libya and four of his officers who died in a plane crash in Turkiye.
The bodies arrived at Tripoli International Airport in caskets draped with Libyan flags and were carried in a funeral procession with soldiers holding their photographs.
The private jet with Gen. Mohammed Ali Ahmad Al-Haddad, four other military officers, and three crew members crashed on Tuesday after taking off from Ankara, Turkiye’s capital, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said a technical malfunction on the plane caused the crash, but the investigation is still ongoing in coordination with Turkiye.
Libya plunged into chaos after the country’s 2011 uprising toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi. The country split, with rival administrations in the east and west.
Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s government governs the country from Tripoli, and Prime Minister Ossama Hammad’s administration governs the east.
Dbeibah praised Al-Haddad during a funeral speech for organizing the military “despite overwhelming darkness and outlaw groups.”
Al-Haddad played a crucial role in the ongoing, UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military, which has split, much like Libya’s institutions.
“Our martyrs weren’t just military leaders but also statesmen who were wise and disciplined and carried responsibility and believed that the national Libyan army is the country’s shield and ... that building institutions is the real path toward a stable and secure Libya,” Dbeibah said.
The burial will take place on Sunday in Misrata, about 200 km east of Tripoli, officials said.
The crash took place as the delegation was returning to Tripoli from Ankara, where it was holding defense talks aimed at boosting military cooperation.
A funeral ceremony was also held at Murted airfield base near Ankara, attended by the Turkish military chief and the defense minister.
Military chief Gen. Selcuk Bayraktaroglu also accompanied the bodies on the plane to Libya, Turkish public broadcaster TRT reported.
Two French crew members of a Falcon 50 jet died in the crash, a French diplomatic source said.
The source did not identify the French crew members but said the French Foreign Ministry was in contact with their families and providing them with assistance.
The Dassault Falcon 50 is a French-made long-range business jet.
The one that went down was chartered by a Malta-based private company, Harmony Jets, which, according to its website, performs maintenance in Lyon, France.
Harmony Jets declined to give information about the nationalities or identities of the crew on its plane.
Airport Haber, a Turkish site specialized in aeronautical news, said the pilot and copilot were both French and cited a Greek newspaper report that a Greek cabin attendant had joined the company two months ago.
France’s BEA, which handles civil aviation investigations, said on X that it was participating in the probe into the crash launched by Turkiye.
Turkiye’s transport minister, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, said the flight recorders would be analyzed in a “neutral” country.
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said contact had been made with Germany to carry out that.
