ANKARA, Turkey, Feb 11, (AP): Turkish police on Tuesday detained 10 senior officials of district municipalities in Istanbul over their alleged links to Kurdish militants, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported, widening a crackdown on opposition-held districts in the city. The detainees include the deputy mayors of the districts of Kartal and Atasehir, along with eight district municipal council members, Anadolu reported.

All suspects are members of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP. They were detained on suspicion of appointing people with alleged connections to Kurdish militants to municipal positions, thereby allowing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, to infiltrated the municipalities, Anadolu reported.

Critics view the detentions as part of a government campaign to discredit Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, seen as a potential future challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, along with other opposition figures in the city. Erdogan’s government rejects allegations that it puts pressure on the courts, insisting the judiciary operates independently. The CHP made significant gains in Istanbul and across the country in local elections last year, in a major setback to Erdogan’s ruling party.

There was no immediate comment from the CHP’s leadership. Imamoglu blamed the detentions on Erdogan, maintaining in a post on social media platform X that the move was the result of the "whims of one person who considers himself to be above the will of the people.” Imamoglu is facing possible jail terms over a series of charges brought against him, including for criticizing legal investigations targeting him and other mayors.

In 2022, he was sentenced for insulting public officials after he spoke out against a 2019 decision to annul the initial round of local elections, which he had won. If a higher court upholds his conviction, he could be banned from politics for five years. Last year, the mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district was arrested over alleged links to the PKK, while the mayor of Besiktas district, was arrested earlier this year over allegations of bid-rigging and bribery.

The two have rejected the accusations. Since the local elections, the government has ousted several elected mayors from the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party for alleged ties to the PKK and replaced them with state appointees. The party denies accusations of links to the banned group.