ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkish authorities detained 157 people including opposition party members and a former mayor in Izmir early on Tuesday, broadcaster NTV reported, expanding a months-long legal crackdown on the opposition that had been focused on Istanbul.
The Izmir prosecutor ordered the detentions in the early morning hours as part of an investigation into corruption, tender rigging and fraud in the west-coast city, NTV reported.
Murat Bakan, an Izmir MP from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) – which has faced waves of arrests since late last year – said former Izmir Mayor Tunc Soyer was detained along with senior bureaucrats and a party provincial chairman.
“We woke up to another dawn operation today,” he said on X. “We are facing a process similar to what happened in Istanbul,” Bakan said, adding that it appeared to be “a judicial system acting on instructions”.
Those arrested in the broader crackdown include Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu – President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival. Imamoglu was jailed in March pending trial on corruption charges, which he denies. That sparked the largest street protests in a decade and a sharp selloff in Turkish assets.
The CHP denies the charges. It and some Western countries have called the crackdown a politicised move to eliminate electoral challenges to Erdogan and silence dissent.
The government denies these claims, saying the judiciary and Turkey’s courts are independent.
NTV said the investigation into Izmir municipality in part looks at potential corruption involving subcontractor companies.
(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
