Beşiktaş mayor detained in tender corruption probe
ISTANBUL
A three-month investigation into alleged corruption and bribery linked to a criminal network attempting to secure municipal tenders has led to the detention of Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat on Jan. 13, along with warrants issued for dozens of other suspects.
Akpolat was detained at his summer residence in the northwestern province of Balıkesir, while his house in Istanbul and his office at the municipal headquarters were also subjected to police searches.
He was first elected as mayor in the Istanbul district in 2019 from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and secured a landslide victory with 64 percent of the vote in the 2024 local elections, commencing his second term in one of the country’s most prominent districts.
The investigation centered on suspicions that a criminal network bribed officials within the municipalities of Beşiktaş and Esenyurt to secure municipal tenders.
The prosecutor's office launched the probe after uncovering evidence suggesting that the network, led by Aziz İhsan Aktaş, provided bribes to municipal officials, including mayors, to manipulate tender processes in their favor.
Among the evidence cited by prosecutors are wiretapped phone conversations and meetings held within municipal buildings.
The Jan. 13 detention warrants also included Ahmet Özer, the former mayor of the Esenyurt district, who has already been arrested over a separate case.
The arrested former mayor had already been dismissed from office last October over the accusations of membership in the PKK terrorist organization.
Following Akpolat’s detention, law enforcement officers were deployed to the Beşiktaş municipal headquarters, where barricades were erected and access was strictly controlled. Municipal employees were required to present identification cards to enter the building.
The detention has provoked a vehement backlash from Akpolat’s party. CHP leader Özgür Özel condemned the move as “another link in the chain of injustices stemming from the politicization of the judicial system.”
Özel characterized the detention of a mayor “who was already willing to provide testimony if summoned as a deliberate attempt to undermine his credibility.” He pledged to contest the decision vigorously.
Support also poured in from Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, who both expressed solidarity with Akpolat.
Akpolat’s detention is the latest in a string of arrests targeting municipal leaders following the March 2024 local elections.
Most recently, a court ordered the arrest of Hoşyar Sarıyıldız, the mayor of Mersin’s Akdeniz district from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), along with his deputy and two municipal council members on charges of membership in the terrorist organization.
Sarıyıldız was subsequently removed from office and a government-appointed trustee was installed in his place.
Since the March 31, 2024, local elections, trustees have been appointed to nine municipalities, all amid allegations of connections to PKK.