Türkiye Detains 10 Officials, Widening a Crackdown on Istanbul's Opposition-held Districts

Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu supporters shout slogans as they gather in front of the Istanbul courthouse, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. Placards read in Turkish: “There is no salvation alone; either all of us or none of us”. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu supporters shout slogans as they gather in front of the Istanbul courthouse, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. Placards read in Turkish: “There is no salvation alone; either all of us or none of us”. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
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Türkiye Detains 10 Officials, Widening a Crackdown on Istanbul's Opposition-held Districts

Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu supporters shout slogans as they gather in front of the Istanbul courthouse, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. Placards read in Turkish: “There is no salvation alone; either all of us or none of us”. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu supporters shout slogans as they gather in front of the Istanbul courthouse, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. Placards read in Turkish: “There is no salvation alone; either all of us or none of us”. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish police on Tuesday detained 10 senior officials of Istanbul district municipalities over alleged links to Kurdish militants, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported, widening a crackdown on opposition-held city districts.

The detainees include the deputy mayors of the districts of Kartal and Atasehir and eight district municipal council members, Anadolu reported. All are members of Türkiye's main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP.

They were detained on suspicion of appointing people with alleged connections to Kurdish militants to municipal positions, thereby allowing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, to infiltrated the municipalities, Anadolu reported.

Critics view the detentions as part of a government campaign to discredit Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, seen as a potential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, along with other opposition figures in the city, according to The AP.

Erdogan’s government rejects allegations that it pressures the courts, insisting the judiciary operates independently.

The CHP made significant gains in Istanbul and across the country in local elections last year, in a major setback to Erdogan’s ruling party.

Imamoglu blamed the detentions on Erdogan, saying on social media that the move was the result of the “whims of one person who considers himself to be above the will of the people.”

Party chairman Ozgur Ozel accused Erdogan of undermining the voters' choice.

“He (Erdogan) is saying: ‘if all of you democrats unite and defeat an autocrat like me, I will make those who were elected suffer,’” Ozel told CHP legislators in a speech.

Imamoglu faces possible jail terms over a series of charges, including for criticizing legal investigations targeting him and other mayors. In 2022, he was sentenced for insulting public officials after he spoke out against a 2019 decision to annul the initial round of local elections, which he won. If a higher court upholds his conviction, he could be banned from politics for five years.

Last year, the mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district was arrested over alleged links to the PKK, while the mayor of Besiktas district was arrested this year over allegations of bid-rigging and bribery. The two have rejected the accusations.

Since the local elections, the government has ousted several elected mayors from the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party for alleged ties to the PKK and replaced them with state appointees. The party denies accusations of links to the banned group.



US Vice President JD Vance to Join His Wife in Greenland on Friday 

US Vice President JD Vance, joined by his wife Usha Vance, speaks at Vantage Plastics in Bay City, Michigan, on March 14, 2025. (AFP) 
US Vice President JD Vance, joined by his wife Usha Vance, speaks at Vantage Plastics in Bay City, Michigan, on March 14, 2025. (AFP) 
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US Vice President JD Vance to Join His Wife in Greenland on Friday 

US Vice President JD Vance, joined by his wife Usha Vance, speaks at Vantage Plastics in Bay City, Michigan, on March 14, 2025. (AFP) 
US Vice President JD Vance, joined by his wife Usha Vance, speaks at Vantage Plastics in Bay City, Michigan, on March 14, 2025. (AFP) 

Vice President JD Vance said that he's joining his wife on a Friday trip to Greenland, suggesting in an online video that global security is at stake.

"We’re going to check out how things are going there," Vance said in a video shared Tuesday. "Speaking for President Trump, we want to reinvigorate the security of the people of Greenland because we think it’s important to protecting the security of the entire world."

President Donald Trump irked much of Europe by suggesting that the United States should in some form control the self-governing, mineral-rich territory of American ally Denmark. As the nautical gateway to the Arctic and North Atlantic approaches to North America, Greenland has broader strategic value as both China and Russia also seek access to its waterways and the nearby natural resources.

The vice president's decision to visit a US military base in Greenland has removed the risk of violating potential diplomatic taboos by sending a delegation to another country without an official invite. Yet Vance has also criticized longstanding European allies for relying on military support from the United States, openly antagonizing partners in ways that have generated concerns about America's reliability.

Ahead of the vice president’s announcement that he would join his wife, discontent from the governments of Greenland and Denmark had been growing sharper, with the Greenland government posting on Facebook Monday night that it had "not extended any invitations for any visits, neither private nor official."

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish national broadcasts Tuesday that it was "unacceptable pressure."

The office of second lady Usha Vance said Sunday that she would depart Thursday for Greenland and return Saturday. Vance and one of her three children had planned to visit historic sites and learn about Greenland's culture, but her husband's participation has reoriented the trip around national security.

The vice president said he didn't want to let his wife "have all that fun by herself" and said he plans to visit a Space Force outpost in the northwest coast of Greenland. Vance said that other countries have threatened Greenland as well as the United States and Canada.

Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz, was initially listed among the group of US officials also heading to Greenland — but his name was omitted when it was announced that the vice president was now attending.

The White House didn't say Tuesday if Waltz’s travel plans had been altered after it was revealed that he had errantly added a journalist to a secure messaging app conversation about a military strike in Yemen.

Vance said leaders in Denmark and North America had "ignored" Greenland for "far too long."

The visit to Pituffik Space Base will take place instead of Usha Vance’s previously announced trip to the Avannaata Qimussersu dogsled race in Sisimiut.

But Dwayne Ryan Menezes, founder and managing director of the Polar Research & Policy Initiative, said that the Trump administration's "intimidation" of Greenland could backfire.

Menezes said if Trump was "smart enough" to understand Greenland's strategic importance that he should also be "smart enough to know there is no greater way to weaken America’s hand and hurt its long-term interests than turning its back on its allies, the principal asymmetrical advantage it enjoys over its adversaries."

Despite officials in Greenland and Denmark becoming more vocal in expressing objections, Vance is allowed to visit the space base, said Marc Jacobsen, a professor at the Royal Danish Defense College, because of a 1951 agreement between Denmark and the US regarding the defense of Greenland.

"What is controversial here is all about the timing," he said. "Greenland and Denmark have stated very clearly that they don’t want the US to visit right now, when Greenland doesn’t have a government in place."

During his first term, Trump floated the idea of purchasing the world’s largest island, even as Denmark, a NATO ally, insisted it wasn’t for sale. The people of Greenland also have firmly rejected Trump’s plans.

Trump's return to the White House has included a desire with territorial expansion, with the US president seeking to add Canada as a 51st state and resume control of the Panama Canal. He has also indicated that US interests could take over the land in the war-torn Gaza Strip from Israel and convert it into a luxury outpost.