ISTANBUL — The mayors of three major cities in southern Turkey were arrested Saturday, state-run media reported, joining a growing list of opposition figures detained since the mayor of Istanbul was imprisoned in March.

Three prominent mayors from Turkey’s main opposition party Republican People’s Party (CHP) were arrested on the morning of July 5, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on his political opponents ahead of the 2028 presidential election intensifies,

Turkey arrested three more opposition mayors early on Saturday as part of an investigation into alleged graft, officials from the main opposition CHP said, denouncing it as a “political operation”. The early morning arrests were the latest move targeting elected officials of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) as the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan