News Investigators/ Turkey’s Interior Ministry has dismissed the mayor of Antalya, Muhittin Böcek, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
The ministry announced on the social media platform X late Monday that Böcek had been removed due to his arrest in an ongoing corruption investigation.
Böcek and two other CHP mayors were detained on Saturday.
The CHP, facing mounting judicial pressure, now has 15 of its mayors in pre-trial detention, including the popular Istanbul mayor and former presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was also removed from office.
The opposition views the arrests as politically motivated.
The CHP was the strongest party in last year’s local elections, a result widely seen as a rebuke to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Turkey’s judiciary has long faced criticism for alleged bias and for being used to target opposition politicians.
The government denied this, insisted that the judiciary acted independently.
