CHP spokesperson Sarı called on the opposition: We must act together. Sarı spoke in Izmir. Speaking at a press conference at the Izmir provincial headquarters, Sarı noted that operations had been carried out against 10 opposition municipalities in the last 10 days and suggested that these could be aimed at overshadowing corruption allegations. He continued his remarks on the operations. Sarı said they were not opposed to the prosecution of those who had committed crimes, but that they would not accept the operations being turned into material for political perception, asking, “Is there corruption only in opposition municipalities?” He also criticized pre-trial detention. Arguing that pre-trial detention has turned into a method of punishment, Sarı stated that arresting elected mayors when there is no suspicion of tampering with evidence or fleeing is an injustice and an insult to the local people.
Sarı emphasized that they have been pursuing cooperation with self-sacrifice within the Türkiye Belediyeler Birliği and that their red line is ensuring that municipalities do not switch to the Cumhur İttifakı. The election in Üsküdar will be held tomorrow. He recalled that in the deputy mayoral election to be held for the third time tomorrow in Üsküdar, the Cumhur İttifakı has 23 council members, while the CHP and the YENİ Parti have 9 each, totaling 18 council members. He then made the call, “If we win, let’s win together; if we lose, let’s lose together.” This ground was important in terms of solidarity. Sarı also explicitly noted that a similar crisis could erupt at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and that the gap in council members has narrowed significantly. He also criticized the party switches. Sarı criticized mayors elected by the will of the voters switching to other parties and said that some had switched to the YENİ Parti, adding that they did not find this right either.
Why it matters
The statements open up for debate not only the judicial but also the political consequences of the operations targeting opposition municipalities; the operations carried out against 10 municipalities in the last 10 days take the debate beyond individual cases and turn it into a claim of a systematic pattern. The criticism that pre-trial detention has turned into a punishment brings back onto the agenda the question of how the removal of elected mayors from office affects the will of the voters. The acting mayoral election to be held in Üsküdar tomorrow will be a concrete test of the call for cooperation; the arithmetic of 18 against 23 shows that municipal administrations could change hands if the opposition fails to act together. Sarı’s warning that a similar crisis could erupt at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality suggests that the issue may not remain limited to the districts. His finding common ground with the YENİ Parti while criticizing mayors who switched parties, however, leaves unresolved the tension between the opposition’s solidarity and its red lines.
Background
CHP is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 10 stories featuring this name in the last 90 days; the most recent one is dated October 11, 2026.