Turkey's rule of law: jailed mayors and institutions under trustees

Erdoğan treats the AHBAP investigation as a matter of evidence coming to light rather than politics. He addressed it at the second Communication Council, saying that those who engaged in opportunism after the earthquakes are now answering to justice, wherever that leads.

”Çarpık ilişkiler tek tek ortaya çıkıyor. Ortaya dökülen bilgi ve belgeler 6 Şubat depremleri sürecinde devlete ve millete hangi operasyonların çekildiğini hepimize çok net biçimde gösteriyor.”The crooked relationships are coming out one by one. The information and documents that have been laid out show all of us very clearly what operations were run on the state and the nation during the 6 February earthquakes.

Kaboğlu inverts the order between evidence and detention. After visiting Silivri prison he pointed out that indictments are delayed for months for jailed mayors while people detained later already have theirs, and concluded that the arrests follow political affiliation rather than conduct. He describes it as a continuing mass manufacture of crime against those held.

”Birçok tutuklunun iddianamesi hazır olduğu halde, 9,5 aydır tutuklu bulunan 5 belediye başkanı hakkında iddianame henüz hazırlanmış değildir.”Although the indictments of many detainees are ready, no indictment has yet been drawn up against the 5 mayors who have been in custody for 9.5 months.

Levent neither rejects the allegations outright nor defends his own bookkeeping. In police questioning he admitted using the association's cheques and promissory notes as collateral and taking on heavy debt, but maintained that this is irregularity and not corruption. He also said the 4.3 billion lira raised after the earthquakes was accounted for in the interior ministry's association audits for 2023, 2024 and 2025, and argued that the timing of the operation was chosen deliberately.

”Ahbap çeklerini ve senetlerini kimi yerlerde teminat olarak kullandım. Yüksek miktarda borçlandım. Bunun adına usulsüzlük diyebilirsiniz ama yolsuzluk diyemezsiniz.”I used Ahbap's cheques and promissory notes as collateral in some places. I took on debt in large amounts. You can call this irregularity, but you cannot call it corruption.

Çiçek disputes not merely the motive but the evidence itself. In police questioning he said the WhatsApp exchanges circulated on social media are entirely fabricated and produced with artificial intelligence, and that his lawyer filed a criminal complaint about them with prosecutors on 12 June 2026, nearly two months before his detention. He also said he had never witnessed any act of bribery in the municipality.

”Ben sosyal medyaya yansıyan yazışmaları yapmadım. Bu yazışmalar tamamen kurmaca, yapay zekâ ile üretilmiş yazışmalardır.”I did not have the exchanges that appeared on social media. Those exchanges are entirely fabricated, produced with artificial intelligence.

Özdemir attacks not the prosecutions but the vote that followed them. After the CHP's candidate won the acting mayoralty of Üsküdar in the fourth round, he called the proceedings a seizure of will and said the party would challenge the result in court. He criticised the adjournment before the final round and the presence of Yeni Parti's Istanbul provincial chair, Özgür Çelik, in the chamber. His party colleague Vefa Yunus Taylan went further, accusing Çelik of occupying the CHP group room. The AKP's objection therefore runs across two opposition parties at once.

”Tehdit ve şantajların karşılığında bazı meclis üyelerini sindirdiklerini gördük”We saw that they cowed some council members through threats and blackmail

Sönük shows what the other route looks like from inside it. She was suspended by the interior ministry in the same words about a temporary measure that were used later of Dedetaş and Beşikçioğlu, but the stated basis was membership of an armed terrorist organisation, and the Batman governor was appointed trustee in her place with no council vote. That is the route the 2016 paragraph provides. She calls it a seizure and says municipalities belong to the people.

”31 Mart seçimlerinde Türkiye geneli en yüksek oy oranıyla kadınların gençlerin ve halkımızın emeği ile aldığımız belediyemiz bize hiçbir tebligat yapılmadan bu sabah itibarıyla gasp edilmiştir.”Our municipality, which we won in the 31 March elections with the highest share of the vote in all of Türkiye through the labour of women, of the young and of our people, has as of this morning been seized from us without any notification being served on us.