CHP's Özel faces new probe over Manavgat bribery remarks

ANTALYA

A new investigation was launched on July 11 into main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel after he called a high-profile bribery probe in the southern city of Antalya's Manavgat Municipality a "conspiracy" during a public speech.

The chief public prosecutor’s office in Antalya announced the ex officio investigation, accusing Özel of “publicly disseminating misleading information” in remarks delivered during a rally in the city on July 11.

Özel’s comments came in response to widely circulated video footage allegedly showing Manavgat Deputy Mayor Mehmet Engin Tüter accepting a bribe concealed in a baklava box. The footage led to the arrests of Tüter, Mayor Niyazi Nefi Kara and municipal council member Burak Çeker.

In his speech, Özel referenced "videos in Manavgat that have disgraced and distressed us all."

"If it’s not fake, we will throw it all out from the party. I appointed two investigators," he said. "Their report has arrived. We will act on it in the coming days."

The CHP leader alleged that Tüter was apprehended a month earlier during a traffic stop with contraband alcohol and a suspicious package believed to contain drugs.

"They trained him for a month... They planned it minute by minute,” Özel said, accusing the government of manipulating him to act as an informant in a conspiracy scheme.

The Interior Ministry announced on July 8 that Kara had been suspended from his duties amid allegations of "extortion, bribery" and embezzlement."

Last week, prosecutors launched a separate probe over Özel's remarks made after a CHP meeting, accusing him of "insulting the president, "public incitement to commit a crime and threatening public officials."