Tens of thousands of people gathered in Istanbul on Saturday to protest the detention of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political opponents. It is the biggest wave of civil discontent in Turkey in a decade.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in cities across the country, answering the opposition’s call, after Imamoglu was detained last week on corruption charges.
The protests have so far been largely peaceful, although Reuters reports that nearly 2,000 people have been detained.
Imamoglu, the candidate of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), seen by many as the strongest opposition force, has received strong public support. The opposition, human rights groups and a number of Western countries believe the case against him is politically motivated and an attempt to remove an electoral threat to President Erdogan.
The government denies these claims, stressing that the judiciary acts independently and does not interfere in the processes.
A large protest called “Freedom for Imamoglu” was held in the Maltepe district of Istanbul, on the Asian side of the city, organized by the CHP. Demonstrators waved Turkish flags and carried banners with messages such as: “If justice is silent – the people will speak.”
“Judiciary, legislation, economy – everything is getting worse. That’s why we are here to demand rights, law and justice,” said one protester.
Protests in Turkey/ PHOTO: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
The CHP officially named Imamoglu as its presidential candidate last weekend. Although elections are scheduled for 2028, the opposition is calling for early elections, arguing that the current government has lost legitimacy.
Turkey’s Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, confirmed that 1,900 people had been arrested during the week.
President Erdogan described the protests as a “political show”, called on the opposition to stop “provocations” and warned of possible legal consequences.
Imamoglu’s detention also caused market disruptions, forcing the Central Bank of Turkey to intervene by mobilizing reserves to stabilize the currency.
