Turkey investigates opposition mayors over coronavirus aid campaign
The Turkish government is using the COVID-19 crisis to further squeeze rivals, this time with a criminal investigation into pandemic fundraising efforts by opposition mayors.
Turkey’s Interior Ministry has launched twin criminal probes against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas.
In an interview with the pro-secular opposition Sozcu newspaper, Imamoglu revealed that the investigations stemming from the mayors’ respective fundraising campaigns to help contain the novel coronavirus pandemic in their cities had started a week ago.
“Most probably inspectors will be dispatched to other mayors who are running campaigns as well. I am not alone,” Imamoglu said.
The government said last month that money-raising initiatives started by municipal authorities in Turkey’s two largest cities — Istanbul and Ankara, both controlled by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) — were illegal.
