Turkish authorities on Saturday detained the mayor of an Istanbul district and dozens of city officials for alleged corruption.

The incident comes amid a widening crackdown on Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP).

The state-run Anadolu news agency reported that Istanbul's prosecutor ordered the arrests in connection with an investigation into alleged extortion, bribery, fraud and bid rigging by the Bayrampasa district, where the CHP won in the last election.

In a post on X, district mayor Hasan Mutlu denied the allegations.

"What is happening consists of political operations and baseless slander. Be assured that, together with you, the valued residents of Bayrampasa, we will overcome these slanders and these acts of dishonesty," Mutlu said. 

Crackdown on Turkey's opposition party CHP intensifies

More than a dozen mayors from the CHP and hundreds of staff have been arrested in recent months over allegations of corruption, including Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul's former mayor.

The arrest of Imamoglu — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main challenger in the next presidential elections — led to the largest protests Turkey has seen in a decade.

Since Imamoglu's detention, CHP leader Ozgur Ozel has emerged as Erdogan's next biggest political rival.

On Monday, an Ankara court will decide whether to annul the outcome of CHP's 2023 party conference. If it does, Ozel would be stripped of the CHP chairmanship he won at the meeting.

The Turkish government says the courts are independent.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic