site.btaUPDATED Istanbul Mayor and Other Senior Turkish Opposition Members Detained

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and other high-ranking members of Turkiye's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) were detained early on Wednesday morning, local media reported.

The detainees also include the mayors of two Istanbul districts, Resul Emrah Sahan of Sisli and Mehmet Murat Calik of Beylikduzu, and Imamoglu's press advisor Murat Ongun.

Police began searching Imamoglu's residence. CNN Turk showed many police officers outside the Istanbul Mayor's home. The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in the Turkish metropolis brought charges of "corruption, bribery and collaboration with terrorists" against Imamoglu and another 100-plus people, NTV reported, quoting a statement by the Office.

The investigation into the alleged collaboration with terrorists is centred around suspicions of arrangements between the local government of Istanbul and the political arm of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated by Ankara as a terrorist organization. Imamoglu is said to have formed an alliance with PKK before the local elections in 2024, as a result of which PKK gained influence in the city government, NTV said.

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said his party has come under "institutional attack," CNN Turk reported.

Some underground railway stations in the city are closed, and local police officers' leaves of absence were cancelled, the Sozcu newspaper said on its website. Access to some social media, including X, TikTok and Instagram, was partly restricted in Turkiye on Wednesday morning.

In a video posted on the X social network early in the month, Imamoglu unofficially announced that he will run for president of Turkiye. He is considered certain to be CHP's presidential candidate, but the official nomination is to be made on March 23.

Turkiye's next regular presidential elections are due in May 2028. In recent months, CHP and other opposition parties have called for early presidential elections, pointing out what they see as an inability of the incumbent government to deal with soaring inflation and other economic problems.

At the local elections in March 2024, the ruling Justice and Development Party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suffered its first national election defeat since coming to power in 2002, and CHP emerged as the winner. Erdogan's party recorded losses in many of the largest Turkish cities, including Istanbul and Ankara.