Beykoz Mayor Alaattin Köseler arrested: He was detained four days ago

Beykoz Mayor Alaattin Köseler was detained after his home was raided around 04:00 on February 27.

Within the scope of the investigation launched by the Beykoz Chief Public Prosecutor's Office for the crime of "rigging a tender," in addition to Köseler, 5 municipal officials and 15 company officials who were tender contractors or bidders were also detained.

Köseler and 20 other individuals, who were held in custody at the Police Headquarters on Vatan Street, were referred to the Beykoz Courthouse this morning following a medical check-up.

After their statements were completed around noon, Köseler and 18 others were referred to the Beykoz Criminal Court of Peace with a request for their arrest. The prosecutor's office requested judicial control measures for the other individuals.

ARREST DECISION ANNOUNCED FOR KÖSELER

Beykoz Mayor Alaattin Köseler, who was detained on charges of rigging a tender, was arrested by the court he was brought before. While 13 people, including Mayor Alaattin Köseler, were arrested after being referred to the court, 5 people were released under judicial control.

CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik made a statement following the arrest decision:

People are in a miserable state; they are inflicting true persecution in Beykoz. They detained the elected mayor of Beykoz by entering his family home at four in the morning. They did not take his statement for four days and kept him in a detention cell. Even though the legal detention period had expired, they committed a crime and brought him before a judge. After bringing him before the judge, they made him wait on a stool for 10-15 hours and then said they had arrested him.

They are acting here with a complete sense of enemy law. If you were going to keep them waiting for four days, why did you enter his home at four in the morning? They want to scare and intimidate people.

They cannot govern Turkey and are trying to cover up their incompetence. They have dragged the country into a crisis environment. Drug gangs are running wild in the streets, and they don't want these things to be talked about, so there is a detention every day...

They are trying to stop the CHP's march to power and discredit its mayors. They should look at how these municipalities ended up in this state; our friends are trying to fix the municipalities they left mired in debt.

They are trying to associate the CHP with terrorism and corruption. They want to design politics through a judiciary and law enforcement they have politicized.

They lost Istanbul in 2019, they lost it in 2024, and now they are afraid of losing Turkey. The ballot box will come, and they will go.

They will not be able to stop the CHP's march to power with arrests; society knows their true intentions. They requested tender files with forged documents.

Citizens do not trust the courthouse; 70 to 80 percent do not trust it. What we are experiencing is a political issue. No one should be afraid; we are not afraid, we are here, and we will bring the early election ballot box and change this government. We will never take a step back.