Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters met outside Istanbul’s City Hall on Sunday night to protest the arrest of the mayor of the city.
A court arrested a court earlier Sunday earlier Sunday earlier Sunday earlier Sunday, Ekrem Imamoglu, an important rival for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – formally arrested.
His detention Wednesday morning elicited the largest wave of street demonstrations in Turkey in more than a decade, with large crowds gathering outside the town hall for the fifth night in a row. It also has concerns about democracy and the rule of law in Turkey.
Sunday’s imprisonment is generally considered a political step to remove a major contender from the next presidential race, which is currently scheduled for 2028.
Government officials reject the accusations and insist that Turkey’s courts work independently.
“If you weren’t here today, if you haven’t rushed here since the first day, if you admitted to tear gas and barriers, if you got scared and stayed at home, a caretaker would live in this building by Tayyip Erdogan today,” Ozgur Ozel said on Sunday night and pointed to City Hall.
Ozel is the head of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, to which Imamoglu belongs.
The prosecutor’s office said the court decided to make Mr. Imaglu in jail for the suspicion that he runs a criminal organization, accepts bribes, extortion, illegal taking up of personal data and the rigging of the bid.
A request that he be imprisoned on charges of terror -related charges has been rejected, although he is still facing prosecution. After the court ruling, Mr. Imamoglu transferred to Silivri Prison, west of Istanbul.
The Interior Ministry later announced that Mr. Imamoglu as a ‘temporary measure’ was out of service. The municipality has previously appointed an acting mayor of its governing board.
Together with Mr. Imamoglu was also jailed 47 other people pending trial, including an important assistant and two District Mayors of Istanbul, one of which was replaced by a government appointment. A further 44 suspects were released under judicial control.
Home Affairs Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Sunday that 323 people had been arrested the night before for the protests.
Largely peaceful protests in Turkey have seen hundreds of thousands in support of Mr. Imamoglu came out. However, there was some violence, with police firing water cannons, tear gas, pepper spray and plastic grains with protesters in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, some of whom threw stones, fireworks and other missiles at Riot Police.
The formal arrest came when more than 1.7 million members of the Opposition CP started holding a primary presidential election to Mr. To endorse Imamoglu, the only candidate.
The party has also drawn up symbolic polls nationwide to express their support for the mayor. Large crowds gathered early on Sunday to cast a “solidarity mood”.
“It’s no longer just a problem of the Republican People’s Party, but a problem of Turkish democracy,” said Fusun Erben, 69, at a polling station in the Kadiko District in Istanbul. “We don’t assume that our rights are so easily overwhelmed. We will fight until the end. ‘
Engineer Mehmet Dayanc, 38, said at a polling station in Bodrum, West Turkey, that he feared that “eventually we will be like Russia, a country without opposition, where only a single man participates in the election”.
At the time of the protest march of Sunday night, the voting score reached about 15 million people, a little over 13 million non-party members who voted in Solidarity. In a post on social media, Mr. Imamoglu praised the result of Silivri Prison and wrote that the people told Erdogan: “Enough is enough”.
“That ballot box will show up, and the nation will blow the administration that it will never forget.”
“Honestly, we are embarrassed in the name of our justice system,” said Mansur Yavas, Mayor of Ankara “a co -member of the CHP of Mr. Imamoglu, told reporters after he cast his voice, and criticized the lack of confidentiality in the proceedings.
The CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said the imprisonment of Mr. Imamoglu is reminiscent of “Italian Mafia methods”. He spoke in Istanbul City Hall, adding: “Imamoglu is on the one hand in prison and on the other hand on the way to the presidency.”
The Council of Europe, which focuses on the promotion of human rights and democracy, made the decision and demanded that the immediate release of Mr. Imamoglu.
The German government called the mayor’s imprisonment “a serious setback for democracy in Turkey”, adding that “political competition should not be carried out with courts and prisons”.
Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a writer of a biography by Erdogan, said the president was “determined to do what is needed to end Imamoglu’s career”.
Prior to his detention, Mr. Imamoglu has already faced several criminal cases that can lead to imprisonment and a political ban. He also appealed for a 2022 conviction for the abusive members of the Turkey’s highest election board.
Earlier this week, a university annulled its diploma, with the alleged irregularities in his transfer of a private university in Northern Cyprus about thirty years ago. The decision effectively impedes him to work for president, as the post requires candidates to be university students. Mr. Imamoglu promised to challenge the decision.
