Barbaros Gezgin elected Milas Deputy Mayor

A police operation targeting the Milas Municipality in Muğla, Turkey, led to the arrest and removal of Mayor Fevzi Topuz. The Republican People's Party (CHP) has maintained that Topuz is innocent, despite a confidentiality order on the legal case.

Following Topuz's removal, the Milas Municipal Council held an extraordinary meeting to elect a deputy mayor. The election process was marked by political division and procedural disputes. In the first round, CHP candidate Çağlar Koban received 10 votes, Yeni Parti candidate Barbaros Gezgin received 9, and the People's Alliance candidate Sibel Karakaş received 8. A second round resulted in a three-way tie with 10 votes each.

During the third round, Gezgin and Karakaş both received 10 votes, while Koban received 9. However, a vote for Koban was declared invalid due to a typographical error, where the Turkish character “ğ” was written as “g”. The CHP group filed a formal objection to this decision, but it was ultimately rejected.

In the final fourth round of voting, Barbaros Gezgin secured 18 votes to Karakaş’s 10, officially winning the position. The meeting was presided over by First Deputy Council President Mehmet Murat Yazar, who stated his hope for a fair conclusion to the ongoing judicial process regarding the former mayor.