Turkey arrests scores in opposition stronghold

The early-morning arrests, part of a probe into alleged graft at Izmir City Hall, followed a similar operation in opposition-run Istanbul in March that removed mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan's main political rival.

A former mayor and numerous "senior officials" were among those detained in Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city, which the opposition has run for years, said the deputy chairman of the opposition CHP party, Murat Bakan.

In total, the Izmir public prosecutor's office has issued arrest warrants for 157 people, local media reported.

"This process is similar to what happened in Istanbul," Bakan wrote on X, adding that those arrested included former Izmir mayor Tunc Soyer and CHP's provincial chairman, Senol Aslanoglu.

"These dawn arrests are not a legal need but are a clear political choice," he wrote, saying that many of those detained were already under investigation.

"These people are in the public eye every day. If they had been called to testify, they would have done so," he said.

It was the latest in a slew of legal manoeuvres targeting the CHP, which aced last year's local elections and is rising in the polls.

It came hours before the CHP was due to hold a rally outside Istanbul City Hall at 1730 GMT to mark 100 days since the removal of Imamoglu, the party's candidate for the 2028 presidential race.

In a post on X, opposition leader and CHP head Ozgur Ozel urged people to resist.

"There have always been those in history who oppress... But there has also been resistance. The victors have always been those who resist," he told party members, without specifically referring to the Izmir arrests.

- Opposition under pressure -

The arrest of Imamoglu and hundreds of other elected officials in Istanbul sparked a wave of mass protests which spread across the country, in what has been Turkey's worst street unrest in over a decade.

In a police crackdown, nearly 2,000 people were arrested.

Although the protests have tailed off, since then the CHP has been holding rallies across Turkey, boosting its standing in the polls.

The Izmir crackdown came a day after an Ankara court began hearing a case against CHP involving allegations of vote-buying at its 2023 leadership primary.

The case could end up overturning the election of current leader Ozel, who has become the face of the spring protests.

Critics say that the case is another politically motivated attempt to undermine the CHP following the move against Imamoglu, which the party denounced as a "coup".

"No conspiracy against our party is ever unrelated to the March 19 coup," Ozel wrote on X.

Monday's hearing in the CHP leadership primary case was brief, with the judge adjourning the proceedings until September 8 over a question of jurisdiction.

The Izmir arrests came as firefighters continued to battle several large wildfires raging near the western resort city, which have forced the evacuation of more than 45,000 people in the area.