In the five months since Turkey detained President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top political rival, the authorities have arrested hundreds of others associated with the opposition in what Mr. Erdogan’s critics call an attempt to undermine his competitors.
More than 100 of them are still detained pending investigations or trials on charges that center on corruption in municipal affairs, according to a tally by Turkey’s largest opposition party.
On Friday morning, another 42 people, including a district mayor of Istanbul, were arrested on corruption charges, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
The arrests come at a time of uncertainty about the political future of Turkey and Mr. Erdogan, who has dominated the country’s politics for more than two decades. He cannot legally run again when his current, third presidential term ends in 2028 but could seek another mandate if Parliament were to call early elections, an outcome many analysts expect him to pursue.
The arrests began last year but have accelerated since March, when the police arrested Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, citing allegations of corruption, which he denies.
In the months since, the government has arrested at least 390 people in connection with investigations of alleged corruption in the Istanbul municipal government and other opposition-run cities, according to a New York Times tally based on Turkish media reports. The opposition says those arrested include current and former mayors and other municipal officials as well as representatives of companies that have worked with opposition-run city governments.
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The post Erdogan Calls It an Anticorruption Drive. His Rivals Call It a Political Crackdown. appeared first on New York Times.
