Istanbul district mayor Mutlu arrested amid CHP crackdown
DW with AP, AFP, ReutersSeptember 13, 2025
Hasan Mutlu, the head of Istanbul's Bayrampasa district, will be facing corruption charges. Mutlu is the latest in the growing line of politicians from the CHP opposition party to be arrested by the Turkish authorities.
https://p.dw.com/p/50Qtd
Hasan Mutlu, mayor of Istanbul's Bayrampasa district, said he has 'nothing to hide'
Image: ANKA
Turkish authorities on Saturday detained the mayor of an Istanbul district and dozens of city officials for alleged corruption.
The incident comes amid a widening crackdown on Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP).
The state-run Anadolu news agency reported that Istanbul's prosecutor ordered the arrests in connection with an investigation into alleged extortion, bribery, fraud and bid rigging by the Bayrampasa district, where the CHP won in the last election.
In a post on X, district mayor Hasan Mutlu denied the allegations.
"What is happening consists of political operations and baseless slander. Be assured that, together with you, the valued residents of Bayrampasa, we will overcome these slanders and these acts of dishonesty," Mutlu said.
Crackdown on Turkey's opposition party CHP intensifies
More than a dozen mayors from the CHP and hundreds of staff have been arrested in recent months over allegations of corruption, including Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul's former mayor.
The arrest of Imamoglu — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main challenger in the next presidential elections — led to the largest protests Turkey has seen in a decade.
Since Imamoglu's detention, CHP leader Ozgur Ozel has emerged as Erdogan's next biggest political rival.
On Monday, an Ankara court will decide whether to annul the outcome of CHP's 2023 party conference. If it does, Ozel would be stripped of the CHP chairmanship he won at the meeting.
The Turkish government says the courts are independent.
Hasan Mutlu, the head of Istanbul's Bayrampasa district, will be facing corruption charges. Mutlu is the latest in the growing line of politicians from the CHP opposition party to be arrested by the Turkish authorities.
https://p.dw.com/p/50Qtd
Turkish authorities on Saturday detained the mayor of an Istanbul district and dozens of city officials for alleged corruption.
The incident comes amid a widening crackdown on Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP).
The state-run Anadolu news agency reported that Istanbul's prosecutor ordered the arrests in connection with an investigation into alleged extortion, bribery, fraud and bid rigging by the Bayrampasa district, where the CHP won in the last election.
In a post on X, district mayor Hasan Mutlu denied the allegations.
"What is happening consists of political operations and baseless slander. Be assured that, together with you, the valued residents of Bayrampasa, we will overcome these slanders and these acts of dishonesty," Mutlu said.
Crackdown on Turkey's opposition party CHP intensifies
More than a dozen mayors from the CHP and hundreds of staff have been arrested in recent months over allegations of corruption, including Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul's former mayor.
The arrest of Imamoglu — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main challenger in the next presidential elections — led to the largest protests Turkey has seen in a decade.
Since Imamoglu's detention, CHP leader Ozgur Ozel has emerged as Erdogan's next biggest political rival.
On Monday, an Ankara court will decide whether to annul the outcome of CHP's 2023 party conference. If it does, Ozel would be stripped of the CHP chairmanship he won at the meeting.
The Turkish government says the courts are independent.
Erdogan officials seize one of Turkey’s last independent broadcasters, announce corruption probe
Can Holdings, a holding company that owns one of Turkey’s last remaining independent broadcasters, was on September 11 announced as under government seizure.
The Istanbul-based owner of the Haberturk, Show TV and Bloomberg HT television channels is the subject of an investigation into money laundering, tax evasion and organised crime, Turkish prosecutors said. Its businesses have been transferred to the state-run Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, or TMSF, state-run news service Anadolu Agency reported. bne IntelliNews has written copiously about the activities of the “acquisitive” TMSF performed in parallel with what critics say is an effort by Turkey’s ruling regime to shut down any meaningful opposition to its rule.
Prosecutors seized 121 companies in all that belong to Can Holdings. The enterprises range across sectors including media, education, energy, hotels, construction and logistics. Arrest warrants were activated for 10 people, including senior Can Holding executives.
Istanbul's Kucukcekmece prosecutor's office alleged in a statement that an organised crime ring was established by Can Holding owners Mehmet Sakir Can and Kemal Can.
In a statement quoted by the Financial Times, state prosecutors said Can Holdings companies were involved in fraud, tax evasion and “introducing income from unknown sources into company accounts, and laundering the proceeds of crime”.
The Erdogan administration already controls around 90% of the national media.
“This is part of the broader, 360 degree clampdown by the government that has been going on for many years,” Wolfango Piccoli, co-president of Teneo, a consultancy, was cited as saying by the FT. “It comes at a particularly interesting time when everything seems to be happening at the same moment: the economy is not doing well, there is a sustained crackdown on the opposition, and the government is trying to raise funds.”
Piccoli was further reported as saying: “The bottom line for media organisations in Turkey is that the government is leaving those media outlets it doesn’t consider ‘friendly’ with two options: get transferred to TMSF, or face penalties from the media watchdog.”
Bloomberg HT TV operates in Turkey under a licensing agreement with Bloomberg LP, the parent company that stands behind Bloomberg News.
Can Holding acquired Show TV and Bloomberg HT from Turkey's Ciner Group late last year.
It also owns Istanbul Bilgi University and private schools franchise Doga Koleji and has shares in Istanbul-listed construction group Tekfen Holding.
Action against Istanbul Bar Association
As well as coming under fire for its latest moves against the opposition and independent media, the Erdogan administration was this week heavily criticised for criminal and civil proceedings brought against the executive board of the Istanbul Bar Association.
The action was incompatible with Turkey’s international human rights obligations and represented a direct assault on the independence of the legal profession, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), along with 11 other legal and human rights organisations, said in a joint intervention submitted to Istanbul 26th Heavy Penal Court on September 5.
The second hearing on the case, scheduled to last two days, began on September 9, IBAHRI said in a press release.
The legal action, it added, targets the Istanbul Bar Association’s president, Ibrahim Kaboglu, along with 10 executive board members. It stems from a public statement issued by the Bar on 21 December 2024 in the wake of the deaths of two Kurdish journalists, Nazim Dastan and Cihan Bilgin. They were allegedly killed in a drone strike in northern Syria.
In its statement, the Istanbul Bar Association spoke of international legal protections that must be provided to journalists in conflict zones, called for an effective investigation into the deaths and demanded the release of protesters and lawyers detained at a demonstration held in Istanbul that same day.
In response, said IBAHRI, prosecutors in Turkey launched criminal proceedings against the Istanbul Bar Association’s leadership for “propaganda for a terrorist organisation” and “disseminating misleading information”.
Prosecutors, it added, simultaneously filed a civil lawsuit seeking to dismiss the board on the grounds that it had acted beyond its legal duties.
On March 21, the Istanbul 2nd Civil Court of First Instance ruled for the termination of the entire board’s mandate, with the decision currently under appeal.
IBAHRI director Helena Kennedy commented: “The Istanbul Bar’s statement was well within its statutory duties and its internationally protected role. To criminalise such a statement is both legally indefensible and politically alarming.”
A Turkish court has issued an order blocking access to the X account of the social media company’s AI-based chatbot Grok, citing the need to protect national security and public order, the EngelliWeb project (@engelliweb) reported on September 11.
Which court issued the yet-to-be-applied ruling was as yet unknown. Grok (@grok) wrote that it learned of the ruling from EngelliWeb and that it was still accessible from Turkey.
EngelliWeb is a project of the local Freedom of Expression Association. It looks into internet bans announced in the country.
World first
In July, an Ankara court blocked access to some of Grok’s tweets over insults it said were directed at Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
As a result, Grok became the first generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot targeted by prosecutors in Turkey for allegedly insulting Erdogan, a serious criminal offence in Turkish law.
Latest developments mean that Turkey has now become the first country to block access to Grok's X account, Yaman Akdeniz (@cyberrights), an academic who works on internet rights, wrote in a tweet.
In July, Turkey became the first country to block access to Grok's individual posts, Akdeniz also noted.
Million+ web addresses
The number of web addresses blocked by Turkey rose to 1.26mn at end-2024 from 0.95mn at end-2023, according to EngelliWeb’s annual report.
The country introduced its internet legislation in 2007. Virtual private network (VPN) services, which allow access to blocked web content, are widely used in Turkey.
No need for court ruling
Since 2007, as many as 852 different institutions in the country have issued rulings to block access to web addresses.
In 2024 alone, a record 0.31mn web addresses were blocked, up from the previous record of 0.24mn set in 2023.
Turkey’s Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) was behind rulings that blocked access to 0.25mn web addresses in 2024, while the country’s football federation, TFF, blocked 50,120 addresses.
Of blocked web addresses last year, only 938 were blocked by court rulings.
Dating apps and e-SIM providers also in crosshairs
In August, the head of the BTK blocked access to 29 dating apps, including Tinder, Azar and LivU.
Dating apps Tango and IMVU had previously been blocked and were using alternative domain names. Hornet, which serves LGBTI+ people, has been blocked since 2021.
In July, the BTK blocked access to at least 35 e-SIM providers
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