site.btaArrest Warrants over Corruption Issued for 36 Employees of Ankara's Opposition-Governed Cankaya Municipality, Including for Mayor

By order of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Ankara, security forces launched an operation Saturday morning in Ankara's opposition-governed Cankaya Municipality as part of an investigation into corruption and bribery. Searches were conducted at the municipality building and at the homes of certain municipal employees, including the home of Mayor Huseyin Can Guner of the Republican People's Party (CHP), for whom an arrest warrant has been issued.

Arrest warrants have been issued for a total of 36 suspects. According to Turkish state television and radio TRT Haber, 27 people have been detained so far and are being questioned by the Security Directorate.

The Cankaya Mayor said in a post on his social media profile that he is currently out of town but will be in Ankara in a few hours, according to CNN Turk. “I have informed all relevant authorities of this. I also provided a spare key to the teams who came to search my home, and I asked all my colleagues to cooperate with the security forces. I want all our neighbors to know that since we took office, we have managed this institution in the best possible way and that we have never done anything that would disappoint anyone who has placed their trust in us,” CNN Turk quoted the Mayor as saying.

“Forming a criminal organization,” “membership in a criminal organization,” “giving and receiving bribes,” and “manipulating tenders” are the charges in the investigation against Cankaya Municipality, the BirGun Daily said. Saturday's searches saw the seizure of a large amount of digital material, documentation, computers, and communication devices.

Cankaya is the central and most prestigious district of the Turkish capital, home to government agencies and foreign embassies. With a population reaching 2 million people, including daily visitors, Cankaya is Ankara’s largest municipality and the country's third biggest after Esenyurt in Istanbul and Sahinbey in Gaziantep Province. It has been governed by Mayor Huseyin Can Guner of CHP since the local elections in 2024. In 2025, Cankaya was declared the most developed municipality by the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Technology.