The Turkish police arrested a mayor from the largest opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), yesterday, Wednesday, along with 20 other people, accusing them of “rigged tenders”, the NTV network reported amid an escalating government crackdown on opposition figures.

A prosecutor in Constantinople has ordered the arrest of the mayor of Beikoz (S.T.S: a municipality and district in the Asian sector of Constantinople) Alaatin Koseler and three others for the alleged plot as well as 17 other persons for establishing, participating in and supporting an organization with criminal intent, according to NTV.

State-run news agency Anadolu reported on Tuesday that prosecutors had launched an investigation into irregularities related to three concerts organized by the municipality of Beikoz last year, adding that the municipality’s head of cultural and social affairs was arrested as part of the investigation.

The development is the latest in a wave of arrests, introductions and investigations carried out by authorities in recent months targeting politicians, mayors and journalists pro-opposition.

Critics say the crackdown is aimed at silencing the opposition and weakening the electoral prospects of President Erdogan’s opponents.

The government rejects accusations that the moves are aimed at silencing opponents and says the judiciary is independent.

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said the crackdown is evidence of the government’s concern that it will lose power in the next election after suffering defeats in the country’s major cities in local elections last year.

“The arrest at dawn is nothing more than an attempt to go against the voters, the preferences of the people through the judiciary, which you have turned into a revenge mechanism,” Ozel wrote on X, adding that “terror” caused by the government would not bend his party.