A Turkish court has ordered 18 employees of the Istanbul municipality to be jailed pending trial on corruption charges, according to reports from state-owned Anadolu Agency and other local media on Wednesday.
The arrests come amid an intensifying crackdown on the political opposition and increased pressure on Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.
Imamoglu, a leading rival to President Tayyip Erdogan and currently ahead of him in national polls, was himself jailed in March pending trial over separate corruption allegations.
He also faces charges of supporting a terrorist group, all of which he denies.
His arrest sparked the largest nationwide protests in a decade and raised concerns about judicial independence claims the government denies, insisting the courts operate independently.
Over the weekend, authorities detained 52 people as part of a broader investigation targeting Imamoglu’s administration. Of those, 34 were released under judicial supervision.
Those jailed include top officials from the municipality, such as the secretary general, Imamoglu’s chief of staff, and senior figures from the city’s water agency, ISKI.
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