Turkey detains 47 members of Istanbul municipality

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is also President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival and leads him in some polls, was jailed in March pending trial over charges of corruption and aiding a terrorist group. The mayor has denied all charges and his arrest triggered mass protests, economic turmoil, and broad accusations of a politicised judiciary.

On Saturday, NTV said the municipality’s secretary general, Imamoglu’s chief of staff, the chairman and deputy chairman of the municipality’s water and sewerage administration (ISKI), as well as a department head at ISKI were detained, among others.

Authorities also detained the wife of Imamoglu’s aide, Murat Ongun, NTV said. It added that several other senior officials in the municipality and institutions tied to it were taken as part of the probe.

The detentions bring the number of arrests since Imamoglu was detained to at least 150, though the exact number is unclear.

Imamoglu, who has dismissed all charges and accusations against him and his municipality as politically fabricated to remove an electoral challenge to Erdogan, said the people detained had done nothing wrong and called on citizens to battle “those rotting our state”.

MNA/