Turkey has arrested three more opposition mayors as part of an investigation into alleged corruption, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said.

The early morning arrests were the latest in a growing number of investigations into CHP officials. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is mounting pressure on the party, which won a landslide victory over his AKP in local elections in 2024.

Among those arrested were the mayors of the southern city of Adana, the southern resort city of Antalya and the southeastern city of Adiyaman, the CHP said. “Our Adana Mayor Zeydan Karalar, Antalya Mayor Muhiti Boçek and Adiyaman Mayor Abdurahman Tutdere were detained,” the capital’s mayor Mansur Yavas wrote in X.

“In a system where the law is bent and changed according to politics, where justice is applied to one group and ignored for another, no one should expect us to trust the rule of law or believe in justice,” he wrote. “We will not bow to injustice, lawlessness or political actions.” | BGNES, AFP