Turkey stops dozens, including members of the opposition party

The Turkish authorities have ordered arrests of dozens of people facing allegations of corruption, including members of the opposition party, in Istanbul and in the city of Adana.

The Office of the Chief Prosecutor of Istanbul made the detention orders for 47 people and detained 30 years. Other detainees included local municipal mayors and officials from Istanbul.

The operation is the fifth wave of arrests against government opponents of the government, starting with the imprisonment of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, considered the main rival of President Tayyip Erdogan in March.

The Turkish government has rejected allegations of political interference, insisting that the judiciary is independent.

Imamoglu sent a letter in prison to an opposition rally on Saturday, saying: “It is time to say” enough “is quite” to this unjust and illegal order “.

“Now you take our district mayors with fictitious apology. What will you do? Where are you going to stop? Will you throw 16 million Istanbulites in prison one by one?” he said in the letter.

Imamoglu is part of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), which has led many surveys against the Erdogan justice and development party.

He was imprisoned for accusations of corruption and helping a terrorist group. He denied all the accusations.

His arrest sparked mass manifestations and arrests across Turkey. The Office of the Istanbul Prosecutor said 819 people arrested in demonstrations will be judged in 20 criminal surveys.

Some 110 people were arrested in the first four waves of arrests under allegations of corruption.

The fifth wave of Saturday included four different operations in two cities. Municipal mayors, members of the CHP party and city officials were among those arrested.

Baki Aydöner, member of the CHP party assembly, wrote on X that he was in Ankara for a party meeting when his wife called and told him that the house had been searched and that there was a detention order against him. He said he was going to Istanbul.

The UN Human Rights Office said in March that it was “very concerned” by mass arrests, Amnesty International at the time calling for “draconian actions” detentions.