Erdogan clears his most dangerous rivals

The popular Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu has to go to prison. He also loses his office. He is also out of the race as the opposite candidate of head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the next presidential election. The government responds to the protests against imamoglus.

After four days in police custody, Ekrem Imamoglu is now in custody. A court in Istanbul issued an arrest warrant on Sunday. Corruption and terrorism are accused of the mayor. He threatens a long -term prison sentence and a political ban. But Imamoglu is combative: « I stand upright, I will not bend, » he wrote on X.

Since IMAMOGLUS arrest last Wednesday morning, there have been mass protests evening in the evening in more and more Turkish cities. On the night of Sunday, too, hundreds of thousands went to the streets, regardless of a ban on assembly that the authorities had imposed in Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara.

The police went against people with tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X, 323 demonstrators were arrested. The police had already detained 343 people on the evening before. « No attempt to disturb public order is tolerated, » the interior minister wrote to X.

The Turkish media supervision RTÜK, controlled by the government, tries to prevent further reports on the protests. She asked the media to « only publish official information and explanations from the responsible authorities ». In the event of an infringement, « long -term transmission bans and even license withdrawal threaten. Several broadcasters then stopped their live reporting from the demonstrations.

Imamoglu was « temporarily » deposed as mayor

The opposition party Chp, which belongs to Imamoglu, does not want to join the assembly bans. Her chairman Özgür Özel called on people to make use of their constitutional law of freedom of demonstration. « From now on we will be on the streets, » called Özel at a protest rally in Istanbul.

The Ministry of the Interior announced on Sunday that Imamoglu was « temporarily » discontinued as mayor. The CHP now wants to choose a provisional mayor in the city council. However, it would also be conceivable that the interior minister will use a forced administrator. Up to Imamoglus election 2019, the Bosphorus metropolis was ruled by Erdogan’s Islamic-Conservative AKP.

The CHP party wants Imamoglu as a presidential candidate

The allegations of corruption are all about bribery in the allocation of urban orders. Terrorism investigations relate to Imamoglus Cooperation with the Pro-Kurdish party in the local elections. The party supported Imamoglu in the election. The Erdogan government sees the PKK, which is the political arm of the forbidden Kurdish terrorist organization.

Imamoglu rejected the allegations in a statement distributed by the city administration. He was confronted with « unimaginable accusations and defamation ». Regardless of the detention, the CHP called on Sunday to nominate Imamoglu as a candidate for the next presidential election. For this purpose, 5,600 election gymnasts were drawn up across the country. In addition, the party appealed to all citizens to show their solidarity with imamoglu with a voice. TV pictures showed long snakes in front of the polling stations on Sunday afternoon. But after the imprisonment imamoglus, the vote has only symbolic importance.