Turkish gendarmes on Monday detained the mayor of Çukurova, a district in the southern Turkish city of Adana, and 43 others in an investigation into alleged bribery, bid rigging and fraud, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Mayor Emrah Kozay, his predecessor Soner Çetin and four deputy mayors were among those detained. The operation targeted 51 suspects, with seven others still being sought, according to Anadolu.
Kozay was elected in March 2024 as the candidate of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) but left it in August to join the main opposition New Party. Çetin serves as a CHP deputy secretary-general.
Gendarmerie teams searched the municipal headquarters and other locations during simultaneous morning raids.
The Adana Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said the investigation concerned alleged irregularities in municipal tenders, purchases made without competitive bidding and payments to contractors.
Prosecutors allege that a municipal company improperly used exemptions from public procurement rules, that bribes were collected in exchange for releasing payments to contractors and that some employees received salaries despite not working.
The investigation covers suspected criminal organization activity, bribery, aggravated fraud and bid rigging.
According to Anadolu, investigators examined procurement records from 2024, 2025 and 2026, drawing on a report prepared by a three-member expert panel and other evidence. Those targeted included a municipal company executive, contractors and employees allegedly paid without performing their duties.
New Party Adana lawmaker Burhanettin Bulut condemned the detentions, accusing the government of using the judiciary to take control of municipalities it could not win at the ballot box.
“Today’s target of the ‘join us or go to prison’ operations was Çukurova,” he wrote on X.
Bulut accused the government of ignoring those responsible for an investment fund scandal, which led to investigations into suspected market manipulation and the liquidation of 131 funds, while targeting elected local governments.
“The will of Çukurova cannot be disregarded through pressure, detentions and politically motivated operations carried out through the judiciary,” he said.
The operation comes amid a series of investigations into opposition-led municipalities following the March 2024 local elections, when the CHP finished first nationwide and dealt President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) its worst electoral defeat in more than two decades.
The opposition has since undergone a split. Former CHP leader Özgür Özel established the New Party in July after a court ruling removed him from the CHP leadership and reinstated his predecessor, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
Turkey’s opposition says the investigations targeting its elected officials are intended to weaken Erdoğan’s political rivals. The government denies directing judicial proceedings and claims that the courts operate independently.
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