Following the ongoing investigation against jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Erdogan’s biggest opponent, on corruption charges and alleged links to terrorism that has sparked week long protests across Turkey, the Ankara municipality is now also being investigated for a series of cultural events held between 2021 and 2024.
According to Turkish media reports, the Governorate announced that inspectors have completed a preliminary investigation into a total of 130 concerts, as part of which it was decided to further investigate 33 , due to “public harm” allegedly caused by the expenditures for the procurement of related services.
The Mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavaş, hinted at political targeting, saying that “instead of a normal political contest, they are putting obstacles in the way of their opponents.” He emphasized that “many reports have been submitted to the Ankara Prosecutor’s Office” adding that now everything is possible in Turkey.
These developments and obviously not by some stroke of chance, at a time of increased political tension in Turkey, ahead of the municipal elections, with the opposition-controlled municipalities of Istanbul and Ankara – governed by the Republican People’s Party (CHP) – being at the centre of institutional pressures.”
