CHP İzmir Mayor Soyer faces second investigation run-up to local elections

Main opposition CHP’s stronghold İzmir’s mayor Tunç Soyer faced another investigation on charges of “giving an old church bell to the Greek Consulate” when he was a district mayor 14 years ago. This is the second investigation launched against him in a week in the run-up to the local elections.

Wednesday November 22 2023 08:17 pm

Duvar English

Turkey’s Interior Ministry has launched an another investigation against İzmir Metropolitan Mayor Tunç Soyer for allegedly giving the bell of a Greek church in front of the old municipality building to the Greek Consulate 14 years ago when he was the mayor of Seferihisar, a district in Aegean İzmir province.

Soyer from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) denied the allegations on a TV program on Nov. 22. He said that he has never used the district municipality’s old building and that he continued his duty in the new building.

According to the allegations, the church’s bell had been used as an alarm bell in front of the old municipality building and Soyer first started to exhibit the bell in front of this office. He has later given this bell, which is claimed to be a historical artefact, to the Greek Consulate without notifying the relevant authorities.

Interior Ministry on Nov. 16 opened another investigation on Soyer for “insulting the Ottoman Empire and the last sultan Vahideddin, Mehmet VI,” during his speech on Sept. 9 for the 100th anniversary celebrations of İzmir’s liberation from occupation forces.

Soyer was elected as the mayor of the country’s third biggest city and CHP’s stronghold in 2019. He has previously mentioned his desire to run again but, there has not been an official announcement from the CHP leadership about a candidate for İzmir yet.

Soyer also stated, “These (investigations) show that as the local elections approach, the government will exert greater pressure on CHP municipalities and try to take harsher measures.”

Turkey will held local elections on March 31, 2024.