Turkish police on July 11 detained Huseyin Can Guner, mayor of Ankara’s central Cankaya district, at Esenboga Airport as he returned from an overseas vacation.

The detention of Guner, as well as the taking into custody of another 35 municipal officials, marks a dramatic escalation of the ongoing legal operations targeting the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Addressing an angry crowd of supporters outside the Cankaya municipality offices, CHP Mayor of Ankara Mansur Yavas accused the government of bypassing established legal safeguards to orchestrate a "trial by media".

Social media lynching, TV ‘court’ trials

"Some lynch our mayors on social media, others convict them in courts they have set up on television," Yavas said.

“When they are acquitted tomorrow, there is absolutely no way to compensate for this. But the day will surely come when these people, too, will be held accountable. We want justice for everyone; we want equal justice for everyone,” he added.

"Have you ever heard of anyone being summoned and not answering the summons? What is there for us to fear? We have absolutely nothing to fear. My declaration of assets is published everywhere. We share it transparently with the public. We have nothing to flee from, nothing to fear. Only the people of Ankara can judge us,” Yavas also said.

"Instead of a ‘law for the enemy’, it is seen how there are bureaucrats from the previous administration [prior to my coming to office] who have been put on trial because of the criminal complaints I've filed since taking office in 2019. Not a single one of them was detained or arrested; their trials are simply proceeding. And that is exactly how it should be,” Yavas, who is also a lawyer, said.

39th operation against CHP mayors

“Yet, what is actually happening? This operation is the 39th operation carried out against our [CHP] mayors [nationwide]. As a result of unjust arrests, certain slanderers are accusing others under the guise of 'confessions.' We want equal application of the law. They started talking about mayor Huseyin Can on television a week ago. They said he would be detained. How do they have access to this information?" Yavas asked.

Transferred from Istanbul

Judicial operations targeting main opposition municipalities expanded into the capital less than a month after the city’s new chief public prosecutor was appointed on June 12.

Aykut Celik previously worked in Istanbul alongside justice minister Akin Gurlek, who was serving as Istanbul chief public prosecutor at the time. He was also among the prosecutors who led the investigation into the case popularly known as the “Aziz Ihsan Aktas trial,” which involved allegations of bribery and corruption in various municipalities, primarily Besiktas Municipality.