Turkey: Opposition mayors convicted – one of them sentenced to 23 years in prison

A court in Turkey convicted on Monday five mayors of local authorities managed by the country's main opposition party of corruption offenses, in a trial that government critics condemned as a politically motivated proceeding.

The trial, held in an Istanbul court, included allegations of bribery, bid-rigging, and fraud regarding municipal contracts. Critics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government claim that the trial was aimed at the Republican People's Party (CHP) and that the prosecution relied on anonymous witnesses and defendants who incriminated others in exchange for lighter sentences.

The case focused on allegations that companies controlled by businessman Aziz Ihsan Aktas won municipal tenders through bribery, bid-rigging, and fraud. Conversely, the opposition argued that local authorities controlled by Erdogan's party, which conducted business with Aktas, were not investigated with the same thoroughness.

Of the five convicted, the mayor of Beşiktaş, Riza Akpolat, received the heaviest sentence — 23 years and three months in prison — for accepting bribes, money laundering, and bid-rigging.

The sentences of the other four mayors — who, like Akpolat, were removed from their positions following their arrest — ranged from five to eight years in prison. The trial, which lasted seven months and was held in a court near Silivri prison, west of Istanbul, involved 200 defendants. Some were convicted and sentenced, while others were acquitted.

Aktas was arrested in Istanbul in January last year, after which authorities launched investigations into other districts in Istanbul controlled by the Republican People's Party (CHP). Local authorities in Adana and Adiyaman in southern Turkey, both managed by the CHP, were also investigated.

Aktas initially denied the charges but later testified against other defendants under Turkey's "effective remorse" law. He claimed that he gave mayors and other officials cash, cars, and other types of bribes to win municipal contracts. Aktas was tried separately and sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for bid-rigging, but was acquitted of bribery charges.

Most of the defendants denied knowing Aktas and accused him of giving false testimony. They also argued that the tenders were allocated according to procedures that had been in place for years and that previous audits had not revealed any irregularities. Another controversial aspect of the trial was the prosecution's use of anonymous witnesses, many of whom admitted that their testimony was based on rumors.

Akpolat, the mayor of Beşiktaş, told the court that investigators offered to drop the charges against him if he provided testimony in a separate investigation regarding the CHP party convention in 2023. This investigation led to a court order in May to remove the top leadership of the CHP, citing irregularities in the voting during the party leadership elections. Many CHP members joined the ousted leader Ozgur Ozel in a new party, which is currently the largest opposition group in parliament.

The CHP won several major cities in the 2019 local elections, including Istanbul and Ankara, the country's capital. Further gains were made in the 2024 municipal elections, but since then, a series of legal cases have been filed against the opposition. Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and the opposition's preferred candidate to run against Erdogan in the next presidential election, has been behind bars since March last year. He is facing several legal cases, the most central of which deals with allegations of corruption in the Istanbul municipality — allegations similar to those in the Aktas case. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a total of more than 2,300 years in prison.