Blitz Bureau
PROTESTS have erupted in several cities against the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. Imamoglu was officially arrested on March 23 over corruption charges, media reports said. Demonstrations took place in more than a dozen cities, including Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul and the capital Ankara, the ministry said in a statement.
Tens of thousands of Turks have taken to the streets in mostly peaceful demonstrations since March 19 when Imamoglu was detained on charges such as graft and aiding a terrorist group. He is President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival who leads him in some opinion polls.
The mayor’s Republican People’s Party (CHP), the main opposition, condemned the move as politically motivated and urged supporters to demonstrate lawfully.
The Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reported that Imamoglu faced accusations of “bribery, corruption, qualified fraud, illegally obtaining personal data for profit and tampering with a tender.
The mayor denied all the accusations against him. However, Imamoglu was released under judicial control in connection with the terrorism investigation, in which he is accused of aiding and assisting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the US, Xinhua news agency reported.
In February, Imamoglu applied to the Republican People’s Party to become a presidential candidate for the 2028 elections.
Imamoglu was re-elected for a second term as mayor of Istanbul after his decisive victory in the local elections held in 2024, over his rival Murat Kurum, a candidate from the ruling Justice and Development Party. President Erdogan has accused the CHP’s leadership of turning the party “into an apparatus to absolve a handful of municipal robbers who have become blinded by money.” He also accused it of “doing everything to disturb the public peace and to polarise the nation.”
Opposition figures say the arrests are politically motivated. But the Ministry of Justice has criticised those who link Erdogan to the arrests and insisted on its judicial independence.