Adıyaman mayor returns to office amid corruption probe

ADIYAMAN

Adıyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere has been reinstated to his post nearly a month after his temporary suspension over a house arrest decision as part of corruption probe, the Interior Minister announced on Aug. 5.

Tutdere, a mayor in the southern city from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was detained on July 5 as part of a broader corruption probe also implicating Istanbul Municipality.

A house arrest order was issued on July 8 and later lifted on July 25. Subsequently, Tutdere was suspended from office.

“Adıyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere has been reinstated following the lifting of the judicial control order preventing him from leaving his residence,” the Ministry said in a written statement.

Tutdere was elected mayor in the 2024 local elections with nearly 50 percent of the vote, marking a historic shift as Adıyaman came under CHP control for the first time in 47 years.

During his house arrest, CHP municipal council member Ufuk Bayır was elected as acting mayor to temporarily assume his duties.

The corruption investigation has been ongoing since March and primarily targets municipal companies affiliated with the Istanbul Municipality. Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has also been imprisoned since March.

Tutdere was detained alongside Adana Mayor Zeydan Karalar. Antalya Mayor Muhittin Böcek was also detained. While Karalar and Böcek were formally arrested, Tutdere was placed under house arrest and subsequently removed from office.

Under current procedures, mayors arrested or subjected to judicial measures such as house arrest on corruption charges are suspended from duty, with the municipal council electing an acting mayor in their place. In contrast, mayors detained or investigated on terrorism-related charges are removed and replaced by government-appointed trustees.

CHP leader Özgür Özel has condemned the wave of detentions targeting CHP municipalities, describing them as politically motivated acts of retaliation in the aftermath of the party’s sweeping success in the 2024 local elections. Citing recent polls that position the CHP as Türkiye’s leading political force ahead of the next presidential race, Özel has called for snap elections.