Anger is mounting over the arrest of Istanbul's popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption and terror charges. Seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival, Imamoglu was arrested on Wednesday, just days before he was due to be named as the candidate for the main opposition CHP party in the 2028 presidential election.
Imamoglu's opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has denounced the detention as a "coup" and vowed to keep up the demonstrations, which by Thursday night had spread to at least 32 of Turkey's 81 provinces, according to a count by French news agency AFP.
Opposition leader Ozgur Ozel told supporters: "This is not the time for politics in rooms and halls but on the streets and squares."
Imamoglu was arrested in a pre-dawn raid on Wednesday, on corruption and terror charges, ahead of his expected election on Sunday as the CHP's candidate for Turkey's presidential elections in 2028.
According to political analyst Mesut Yegen of the Reform Institute, an Istanbul-based think tank, Imamoglu is more than just a mayor.
"Imamoglu is now [Erdogan's] main rival, it's obvious," Yegen told RFI, adding that as Istanbul's mayor he has a unique opportunity. "Istanbul is important for the resources it has, it's the biggest municipality. Here in Turkey, municipalities are important to finance politics."
Popular appeal
Opinion polls give Imamoglu – who defeated Erdogan's AK party three times in mayoral elections – a double-digit lead over Erdogan. This is because he is widely seen as reaching beyond his secular political base to religious voters, nationalists and Turkey's large Kurdish constituency.
Some observers see Imamoglu's arrest as a sign that Erdogan is reluctant to confront the mayor in presidential elections.
"If Erdogan could beat him politically with regular rules, he would love that. But he cannot be doing that. Erdogan wants to take him out of the political sphere one way or the other," explained Sezin Oney, a commentator on Turkey's independent Politikyol news outlet.
"The competitive side has started to be too much of a headache for the presidency, so they want to get rid of the competitive side and emphasise the authoritarian side, with Imamoglu as the prime target," she said.
Erdogan’s local election defeat reshapes Turkey’s political landscape
Turkey's justice minister Yilmaz Tunc has angrily rejected claims that Imamoglu's prosecution is politically motivated, insisting the judiciary is independent.
Erdogan sought to play down the protests, saying on Friday that Turkey "will not surrender to street terror" and discouraged any further demonstrations.
"We, as a party and individuals, have no time to waste on the opposition's theatrics. We are focused on our work and our goals," Erdogan declared.
Imamoglu's arrest comes as Turkey's crisis-ridden economy took another hit, with significant falls on the stock market and its currency falling by more than 10 percent as international investors fled the Turkish market.
'Out of sight, out of mind'
However, Oney suggests Erdogan will be banking on a combination of fear and apathy eventually leading to the protests dissipating, and that Imamoglu, like other imprisoned political figures in Turkey, will be marginalised.
"The government is counting on the possibility that once Imamoglu is out of sight, [he will be] out of mind," she predicts. "So he will just be forgotten, and the presidency will have its way [more easily]."
Turkey is no stranger to jailing politicians, even leaders of political parties. However, Oney warns that with Imamoglu facing a long prison sentence if convicted, the significance of such a move should not be underestimated.
"It's going to be extremely detrimental to Turkish democracy. You have jailing of politicians, but someone on the scale of Imamoglu will be unique," she said.
Despite Imamoglu's detention, the CHP vowed it would press ahead with its primary on Sunday, at which it would formally nominate him as its candidate for the 2028 race.
The party said it would open the process to anyone who wanted to vote, not just party members, saying: "Come to the ballot box and say 'no' to the coup attempt!"
Observers said the government could seek to block the primary, to prevent a further show of support for Imamgolu.
Issued on: 22/03/2025 -
After his third night in custody, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was to appear before prosecutors Saturday, just hours after hundreds of thousands hit the streets across Turkey in a massive show of defiance. It was the third straight night that protesters had rallied against the arrest of Imamoglu – the biggest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose arrest early Wednesday sparked Turkey's biggest street protests in more than a decade.
Video by: FRANCE 24
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on Saturday said 343 people were arrested following a third night of protests against the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoglu, a major opposition politician.
Issued on: 22/03/2025
By: FRANCE 24
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted on social media that 343 suspects had been detained in protests in major cities on Friday night, adding “There will be no tolerance for those who seek to violate societal order, threaten the people’s peace and security, and pursue chaos and provocation.” The cities listed included Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Çanakkale, Eskişehir, Konya and Edirne.
The mayor, who is a popular opposition figure and seen as a top challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained on Wednesday following a dawn raid on his residence over allegations of financial crimes and links to Kurdish militants. Dozens of other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.
Many view the arrest as a politically driven attempt to remove a popular opposition figure and key challenger to Erdogan in the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028. Government officials reject accusations that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that Turkey’s courts operate independently.
On Friday, police questioned Imamoglu for four hours over the corruption accusations, during which he denied all of the charges, Cumhuriyet newspaper and other media reported. He was expected to be transferred to a courthouse later on Saturday for questioning by prosecutors and to face possible charges.
His arrest has ignited protests that have steadily increased in intensity.
On Friday, police in Istanbul used pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets to push back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a barricade in front of the city’s historic aqueduct while hurling flares, stones and other objects at officers. Police also dispersed groups that had rallied outside of the city hall for a third night running, after the opposition Republican People’s Party leader, Ozgur Ozel, delivered a speech in support of the mayor.
Simultaneously, police broke up demonstrations in Ankara, the capital, as well as in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, resorting to forceful measures at times, according to television images. Thousands marched in several other cities calling on the government to resign.
Earlier, Erdogan said the government would not tolerate street protests and accused the opposition party of links to corruption and terror organizations. Authorities in Ankara and Izmir meanwhile, announced a five-day ban on demonstrations, following a similar measure imposed earlier in Istanbul.
“An anti-corruption operation in Istanbul is being used as an excuse to stir unrest in our streets. I want it to be known that we will not allow a handful of opportunists to bring unrest to Turkey just to protect their plundering schemes,” Erdogan said.
Imamoglu’s arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s presidential candidate in a primary on Sunday. Ozel has said that the primary, where around 1.5 million delegates can vote, will go ahead as planned.
The opposition party has also urged citizens to participate in a symbolic election on Sunday — through improvised ballot boxes to be set up across Turkey — to show solidarity with Imamoglu.
In a message posted on his social media account Saturday, Imamoglu described his arrest as a “coup” and accused the government of exploiting the judiciary and worsening the country’s troubled economy.
“With your support, we will first defeat this coup, and then we will send packing those who caused this,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
Issued on: 20/03/2025 -
Turkish riot police fired teargas and rubber bullets on Thursday, as demonstrators protested for a second night outside Istanbul City Hall over the shock arrest of the Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu in a graft and terror probe.
FRANCE24
Issued on: 20/03/2025 -
Riots broke out at the campus of Ankara's Middle East Technical University as students protested against the detention of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. Thousands have been protesting in major Turkish cities for a second night in a row as Imamoglu, President Erdogan's main political rival, called for judges to take a stand against the Turkish government's misuse of the courts. FRANCE 24's Jasper Mortimer
Issued on: 19/03/2025 -
Anger has erupted on the streets of Istanbul, with thousands of people rallying in the cold in front of the city hall on Wednesday evening, yelling: "Erdogan, dictator!" and "Imamoglu, you are not alone!", after the city's mayor and Erdogan's main political rival was detained. Şebnem Gümüşçü, Ass. Professor of Political Science at Middlebury College and Sabancı University, says that Erdogan could use the detention as leverage 'to negotiate opposition support for a third or fourth term'.
Expert Analysis
Issued on: 20/03/2025
Turkish police detained Istanbul's powerful mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, Wednesday over graft and terrorism allegations, prompting outrage from the opposition which slammed it as a politically-motivated "coup". For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Mark Owen welcomes Dr. İlhan Uzgel, Professor of International Relations and Turkey's opposition CHP Deputy Chairperson.
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