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- Turkey opposition crackdown spreads to Izmir with 157 detentions, NTV says</p>
<p>July 1, 2025 at 12:27 AM</p>
<p>ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkish authorities detained 157 people including opposition party members and a former mayor in Izmir early on Tuesday, broadcaster NTV reported, expanding a months-long legal crackdown on the opposition that had been focused on Istanbul.</p>
<p>The Izmir prosecutor ordered the detentions in the early morning hours as part of an investigation into corruption, tender rigging and fraud in the west-coast city, NTV reported.</p>
<p>Murat Bakan, an Izmir MP from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) - which has faced waves of arrests since late last year - said former Izmir Mayor Tunc Soyer was detained along with senior bureaucrats and a party provincial chairman.</p>
<p>"We woke up to another dawn operation today," he said on X. "We are facing a process similar to what happened in Istanbul," Bakan said, adding that it appeared to be "a judicial system acting on instructions".</p>
<p>Those arrested in the broader crackdown include Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu - President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival. Imamoglu was jailed in March pending trial on corruption charges, which he denies. That sparked the largest street protests in a decade and a sharp selloff in Turkish assets.</p>
<p>The CHP denies the charges. It and some Western countries have called the crackdown a politicised move to eliminate electoral challenges to Erdogan and silence dissent.</p>
<p>The government denies these claims, saying the judiciary and Turkey's courts are independent.</p>
<p>NTV said the investigation into Izmir municipality in part looks at potential corruption involving subcontractor companies.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Himani Sarkar)</p>
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