Istanbul court jails the mayor of Üsküdar in a corruption investigation
Sinem Dedetaş, 45, the first woman to run Üsküdar, was remanded in custody on Friday along with her chief of staff Alihan Koçoğlu, the architect Burçin Çevik and the contractor Bülent Orhan Tozkoparan, on suspicion of bribery, extortion through abuse of office and leading a criminal organisation. The Istanbul Anatolian chief prosecutor's office says employees of the municipally owned company Kent AŞ directed the issuing of construction and occupancy permits without legal authority, using a closed encrypted email network and colour-coded spreadsheets; two of the six detained were released with travel bans, and 16 people were already jailed in the same investigation in May. Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, in prison since March 2025, called the operation an attempt to hold on to power through the courts.