Istanbul (AFP) – Turkey's government pressed on with its campaign against the main opposition CHP on Saturday with dozens of arrests targeting a district in the capital Ankara that is run by the party.
Some 27 people were arrested in early-morning raids in Cankaya, out of a total of 36 named in a warrant issued by Ankara's public prosecutor, media reports said.
The warrant reportedly cited accusations of forming or belonging to a criminal organisation, bribery and tender rigging.
Among those named in the warrant was Cankaya Mayor Huseyin Can Guner.
The arrests come as Turkey's oldest political party battles a deepening crisis after a court removed its elected chairman Ozgur Ozel, handing the role to his defeated predecessor Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
The highly controversial decision by an Ankara court, which annulled the party's 2023 leadership election over alleged vote buying, was widely seen by critics as the latest bid by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to cripple his political opponents.
The move has raised major concerns about the state of democracy and the rule of law in Turkey.
Following Saturday's raids, Ozel -- who is currently visiting the southern city of Adana -- urged party members to gather in solidarity in front of Cankaya city hall.
Hundreds of CHP officials have been arrested as part of ongoing investigations into alleged corruption, including Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was widely seen as one of the only politicians capable of defeating Erdogan at the ballot box.
Pressure on the CHP has soared since its sweeping local election victory over Erdogan's AKP in 2024. Figures from late June showed at least 26 of its mayors were behind bars, detained on a range of alleged graft offences.
CHP's resounding local election victory took place less than six months after Ozel took over as party leader.
After Imamoglu's arrest, Ozel played a key role in mobilising Turkey's largest street protests in over a decade, which saw the party's popularity rise in the polls.
An outspoken critic of Erdogan, the 51-year-old is appealing against the Ankara court's decision but on Friday said if the legal moves failed, he would form a new party.
He described that as a "worst-case scenario" option in a YouTube interview with journalist Unsal Unlu.