Istanbul mayor's staff targeted by dozens of arrest warrants
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (AP)
ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities have issued 47 arrest warrants for municipal officials and staff across Istanbul, whose mayor, the main political rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been jailed since March, the state news agency Anadolu reported on Saturday.
The warrants were based on "four separate corruption investigations centred on Istanbul", Anadolu said, without revealing how many people were actually taken into custody.
The March 19 arrest and jailing of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu sparked the biggest street protests Turkey had seen in decades.
Police had already detained nearly 70 people in subsequent raids linked to alleged corruption at Istanbul City Hall, including Imamoglu's private secretary and his private protection officer.
The latest warrants targeted a former opposition lawmaker and five mayors of Istanbul districts, according to Anadolu.
The private television station Halk, seen as close to the opposition CHP party that Imamoglu belongs to, said that nine district mayors, out of a total of 39. had now been arrested and were being kept in custody.
The CHP, which has nominated Imamoglu as its candidate in presidential elections due in 2028, did not immediately comment on the latest warrants.
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