Turkish police on Tuesday detained an opposition mayor and 28 others over allegations that a municipality helped companies obtain false credentials to compete for public contracts, the ANKA news agency reported.
Fevzi Topuz, mayor of Milas in southwestern Turkey, and his son were among those detained during raids in 13 provinces. Prosecutors issued detention warrants for 35 people in the investigation, which includes suspected bribery, bid rigging, forgery and organized crime.
Police searched city hall in Milas, a district in Muğla province, restricting access to the building while officers were present. Topuz belongs to the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
The allegations concern documents certifying companies’ previous construction work — credentials businesses use to qualify for public contracts.
Prosecutors say the municipality approved certificates for work that had not been carried out. Investigators reported finding copied signatures, conflicting payment figures and identical bank and tax details in documents submitted by different companies.
Eight companies allegedly used the disputed certificates to compete for 25 public contracts worth a combined 3.71 billion lira, (about $75 million). The figure is the value of the tenders, rather than an established loss of public money.
Topuz, a former member of parliament and longtime local politician, won the mayor’s office with about half the vote in March 2024. His detention follows a series of investigations that have removed opposition politicians from municipal leadership across Turkey.
On Monday gendarmes detained another opposition mayor, Emrah Kozay, and 43 others in a separate corruption investigation in Adana, a city in southern Turkey. Kozay was elected as a CHP candidate but later joined the main opposition New Party.
The investigations carry particular political weight because the CHP defeated President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the 2024 local elections.
An October tally put the number of CHP mayors arrested since those elections at 40, including some who have since been released. Among those still jailed is İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, one of Erdoğan’s most prominent political rivals, who was arrested in March 2025.
The opposition says the government is using criminal investigations to reverse its electoral gains. The government denies political interference and claims the judiciary acts independently.
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