ISTANBUL (AP) — 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.
Abdurrahman Tutdere, the mayor of Adiyaman, and Zeydan Karalar, who heads Adana municipality, were detained in early morning raids, according to Anadolu Agency. Both are members of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP.
The CHP mayor of Antalya, Muhittin Bocek, was arrested with two other suspects in a separate bribery investigation by the Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Anadolu reported.
CHP officials have faced waves of arrests this year that many consider aimed at neutralizing Turkey’s main opposition party. The government insists prosecutors and the judiciary act independently but the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu led to the largest street protests Turkey has seen in more than a decade.
Karalar was arrested near Istanbul and Tutdere was arrested in the capital, Ankara, where he has a home. Tutdere posted on X that he was being taken to Istanbul. Police also carried out searches at the municipal offices in Adana and Adiyaman.
Eleven people, including Karalar and Tutdere, were arrested as part of an investigation by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into allegations involving organized crime, bribery and bid-rigging. In a statement, it said the evidence against Karalar and Tutdere had been supplied by a businessman who cooperated with prosecutors following his detention for running a criminal organization and paying bribes.
The mayors had “requested unfair financial benefits from company executives doing business with the municipality,” prosecutors added.
The mayors' detentions follow the arrests of scores of officials from municipalities controlled by the CHP in recent months.
Following their arrests, CHP Chairman Ozgur Ozel convened a meeting of the party’s senior leadership. Meanwhile, the CHP mayor of Ankara questioned why municipalities controlled by President's Recep Tayyip Erdogan' s party were not subjected to the same level of judicial scrutiny as opposition politicians.
“In a system where the law is bent and twisted according to politics, where justice is applied to one group and ignored by another, no one should expect us to trust the rule of law or believe in justice,” Mansur Yavas posted on X.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc condemned “irresponsible accusations that directly harm the impartiality and independence of the judiciary and aim to undermine it."
Imamoglu, widely considered the main challenger to Erdogan ’s 22-year rule, was jailed four months ago over corruption allegations. As part of the investigation into Imamoglu, the deputy mayor of Istanbul's Buyukcekmece district was also arrested Saturday.
The former CHP mayor of Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, and 137 municipal officials were detained earlier this week as part of an investigation into alleged tender-rigging and fraud. On Friday, ex-Mayor Tunc Soyer and 59 others were jailed pending trial in what Soyer’s lawyer described as “a clearly unjust, unlawful and politically motivated decision.”
Also Friday, it was reported by state-run media that the CHP mayor of Manavgat, a Mediterranean resort city in Antalya province, and 34 others were detained over alleged corruption.
Imamoglu was officially nominated as his party’s presidential candidate following his imprisonment. Turkey’s next election is due in 2028, but could come sooner.
The crackdown comes a year after the CHP made significant gains in local elections. Adiyaman, which was severely affected by the 2023 earthquake, was among several cities previously considered strongholds for Erdogan to fall to the opposition.
FILE -Ekrem Imamoglu, mayoral candidate for Istanbul of Republican People's Party (CHP) wipes sweat off his forehead during a press conference after the local elections, in Istanbul, March 31, 2019. (AP Photo/File)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a media conference at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.
"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.
Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.
As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.
Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.
Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
