Turks protest, opposition defiant over Istanbul mayor’s detention – World

Thousands of Turks ramped up protests on Thursday despite a ban on street gatherings over what they called the undemocratic detention of Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, as the opposition sought to pin the blame on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Even as police erected barricades and dozens of people were detained over social media posts, protesters gathered at a municipal headquarters and police station in Istanbul and at universities and public squares across the country.

Imamoglu, 54, Erdogan’s main political rival, was taken in on Wednesday facing charges of graft and aiding a terrorist group, a move that the opposition condemned as a “coup attempt” and that sparked an initial round of demonstrations and criticism from European leaders.

The move against the popular two-term mayor caps a months-long legal crackdown on opposition figures that has been criticised as a politicised attempt to hurt their electoral prospects and silence dissent, charges the government denies.

In an interview, Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), including Imamoglu, said Erdogan feared facing the mayor in a vote and wanted to “take him out of the game” and cut his party’s ties with the city.

He said that any move barring Imamoglu from running for president in the next election would only strengthen the opposition’s support, adding the CHP will appoint him its candidate on Sunday at a scheduled vote.

“We believe Imamoglu will win. If his candidacy is blocked, we believe this will turn into much greater support,” Ozel told Reuters in his first interview with foreign
media since the detention.

“This nation has never forgiven anyone trying to lift the legitimacy of the ballots,” he said next to a small room at the Istanbul municipality headquarters — with crowds gathering outside — where he intends to overnight until Imamoglu is released.

Warnings

“These events have gone beyond our parties or political ideals,” he said on X. “It is time to raise our voices.”

Civil disobedience has been dramatically curbed in Turkiye since the nationwide Gezi Park protests against Erdogan’s government in 2013, which prompted a violent state crackdown.

But crowds in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities have been chanting anti-government slogans and, in Istanbul, they hung banners of Imamoglu and the nation’s founding leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk alongside Turkish flags.

“They hastily detained our mayor, whom we elected with our votes,” said Ali Izar, an opposition supporter in central Istanbul. “I do not think this is a democratic practice and I condemn it.”

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