17 - this is the number of mayors from the opposition Republican People's Party (RHP) who are detained in Turkey. Among them are those of large cities such as Istanbul, Adana and Antalya.
Journalist Fatih Altayli has also been in prison for three weeks. The charge is for making threats against the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" (FAZ). Since then, however, he has been writing a diary about his daily life in Silivri prison - where Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and dozens of other Republican People's Party politicians are also being held.
Altayli tells, for example, about the last high-ranking opposition prisoner brought in - Adana Mayor Zeydan Karalar - and his elation despite the circumstances. One of Istanbul's municipal mayors, Ahmet Özer, joked that the city council would soon be able to hold its meetings in Silivri. The number of arrested mayors from the Republican People's Party (CHP) is now 17. "I assume that all CHP mayors get up early in the morning, get dressed, pack their bags and wait for the police," Altayli wrote.
Arrest for commenting on a sociological survey
As FAZ writes, the journalist was detained on July 21 after he commented on a survey in his social media broadcast, according to which 70 percent of Turks are against the hypothesis of Erdogan ruling for life. Altayli stressed that Turks will not allow their right to choose to be taken away. He also said, as quoted by the German publication, that "this is a nation that strangled its sultan." The prosecutor's office assessed this as a threat against Erdogan, while the defendant explains that his statements were taken out of context. Just hours after the journalist's arrest, one of Erdogan's advisers wrote on the X platform: "Fatih Altayli, your time is up".
The leader of the RPP, Özgür Özel, describes the charges against his party members as completely vague. The party is concerned about the pace at which the arrests are being made - every day there is a detained mayor. He recently gathered all the mayors from the party who are still at large for a strategic meeting in Ankara. Court cases are pending against 61 of the 135 RPP deputies, and another one was recently added to the charges against İmamoğlu - forgery of documents, according to the FAC. The state prosecutor's office is seeking up to eight years in prison for him and a ban on him from engaging in politics.
And the Sword of Damocles is also hanging over Özel's head - five cases have been filed against him, and a request has been filed to revoke his parliamentary immunity. He is also accused of corruption - that he personally filled a box of baklava with money to be given to the mayor of the resort town of Manavgat.
Attention is currently shifted to the PKK
Altayli's first letter from prison was read by nearly a million people. The following ones are followed by between 130,000 and 800,000 readers, FACS reports. The journalist writes about the daily routine in prison, such as the five spiders in his recently renovated solitary cell, with whom he has established "relationships of mutual respect". He does not complain about the prison conditions, and even praises the kindness of the guards. He also shared that he can watch opposition TV channels.
At the same time, the journalist worries about the health of cultural manager Ayşe Barum, who, despite being half the weight she was when she entered prison, is still behind bars. Barum is accused of forcing actors to participate in the 2013 protests against the construction of "Gezi" Park.
The arrested journalist writes that to his great surprise, not a single new prisoner was brought in last week except for the mayor of Şile. The reason was clear. "Our independent justice" would not want to overshadow the show of disarming the PKK, Altayli sarcastically noted.