Mass protest in Istanbul against imamoglus arrest

Tens of thousands of people protested the government in Istanbul and the controversial detention of the deposed mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. The social democratic CHP party of the popular opposition politician had called for the major rally. The demonstrators accused the authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of wanting to politically political with the help of the judiciary. In his speech, CHP boss Özgür Özel said that Imamoglu was in custody because he had opposed the « dictator ».

Erdogan also attacked Imamoglu itself. In a letter that was read to the Asian side of Istanbul at the rally in the Maltepe district, he wrote that every step of Erdogan shows that he was « going away from elections and is afraid of his opponent ».

Imamoglu is considered the most important challenger of Erdogan in the presidential election planned for 2028. He was arrested on March 19 in connection with corruption and terrorist allegations, later taken in custody for the former and deducted as mayor.

The 53-year-old is held in the Marmara high-security prison in Istanbul. Despite his arrest last week, he was nominated as a presidential candidate of the Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Imamoglu’s family also took part in the peaceful demonstration on the eve of the Muslim sugar festival. His wife Dilek told the crowd: « Justice cannot be banned, conscience cannot be locked up. This is only the beginning. We will continue to fight! »

His party is now calling for early new elections. These can be decided by the parliament with a three-fifth majority. In this case, Erdogan could also run again. In contrast, this would not be possible in the case of regular elections because the constitution provides for a maximum of two terms in the case. In view of the mood in the country, Erdogan’s party currently agrees to this is unlikely.

1,900 people arrested – especially students

According to the Turkish Ministry of the Interior, almost 1,900 people have been arrested since the start of the protests, including several journalists. 260 people were arrested. The police are made on the part of the opposition. In a first indictment, the Istanbul public prosecutor calls up to three years in prison for 74 of the demonstrators for participating in banned meetings, as the state broadcaster report reports.

Erdogan claims that the imprisonment of Imamoglu and several of his employees is part of an independent examination and accuses the CHP of wanting to cover up a nationwide corruption network. He threatened to uncover further corruption within the CHP and announced a tough approach to demonstrators.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on platform X that connections to twelve different terrorist organizations were found in the arrested. According to lawyers, most of the arrested are students.

Swedish journalist arrested for terrorist allegations

But there are also journalists among them. A Swedish journalist of the daily newspaper « Dagens etc. » was arrested for allegations of terrorism. The authorities accuse him of membership in an armed terrorist organization and the insult to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The state news agency Anadolu reported.

Kaj Joakim Medin was arrested shortly after his landing in Istanbul on Thursday, as his newspaper reported. The authorities also referred to its reporting from conflict areas in Syria, the PKK stronghold in Iraq and the southeast of Turkey between 2014 and 2017. The editor-in-chief Andreas Gustavsson wrote on the platform X: « I know that the allegations are wrong. Hundreds of percent wrong. »