CHP municipal council member detained for sharing İmamoğlu’s under-investigation remarks

Duvar English

Turkish authorities on Jan. 21 detained Mertcan Üreten, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) municipal council member in Manisa’s Yunusemre district municipality, for sharing Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu’s remarks. 

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office announced the detention of Üreten, saying they initiated an ex officio investigation for those posting İmamoğlu’s remarks. 

The same office on Jan. 20 launched an investigation into Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu for allegedly “threatening” Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek and his family.

The investigation involves İmamoğlu’s Jan. 20-dated remarks, criticizing the detention of CHP youth branch head Cem Aydın.

Without a detention order, Aydın was taken to a courthouse on Jan. 20 by eight police officers to testify within the investigation launched against him for calling Gürlek “mobile guillotine.”

CHP leader Özgür Özel often calls Akın Gürlek “mobile guillotine,” implying that he initiates politically motivated investigations into opposition figures to oppress them. Gürlek was a deputy justice minister and appointed to this duty in 2024.

Criticizing Aydın’s detention, İmamoğlu said, “I’m calling on the chief prosecutor. We will dismantle this mindset that governs you to protect even your children from this treatment. We will dismantle it so that no one can take your children from your house in the morning. We will remove the ideas in your mind from every part of this country so that we can provide peace for your family.”

“We need to cleanse this country of these malicious people, there is no other way, there is no other solution and everyone should know that we will succeed,” he added while speaking at the Panel on Modern Law and Politicization of the Judiciary, held in Istanbul.

Two hours after he spoke, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into İmamoğlu on the charges of “threatening” and “targeting people fighting against terrorism,” claiming that he “threatened” Gürlek and his family. 

Istanbul’s popular mayor faces several investigations and likely a political ban as he is considered a strong rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The investigations are seen as the government’s new crackdown wave on the CHP. Recently, CHP's two Istanbul district mayors were ousted by Ankara.

President Erdoğan recently said there was “more to come” regarding investigations into CHP mayors. 

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