Thousands rally in Turkey despite warnings against protests over mayor arrest
Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested in a dawn raid at his residence on Wednesday.
Protests erupted across multiple Turkish cities on Friday as people rallied against the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor and top rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, despite the Turkish leader’s stern warning that street protests would not be tolerated.
The leader of Turkey’s main opposition had earlier on Friday renewed a call for supporters to take to the streets for peaceful demonstrations against the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu.
Authorities widened a ban on protests and criticised the appeal as irresponsible.
Mayor Mr Imamoglu was arrested in a dawn raid on his residence on Wednesday over alleged corruption and terror links, escalating a crackdown on opposition figures and dissenting voices.
Several other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.
Many view the arrest as a politically driven attempt to remove a popular opposition figure and key challenger to Mr Erdogan from the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028.
Government officials reject accusations that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that Turkey’s courts operate independently.
Cumhuriyet newspaper and other media reported that police began questioning Mr Imamoglu on Friday afternoon. The mayor can be detained without charges for up to four days.
Mr Imamoglu was questioned by police for four hours over corruption accusations, during which he denied all the charges, Cumhuriyet and other media reported. He was expected to be transferred to a court on Saturday evening for questioning by prosecutors.
Mr Erdogan said the government would not tolerate street protests and accused the opposition party of being associated with corruption, marginal groups and terrorist organisations.
“We see that an anti-corruption operation in Istanbul is being used as an excuse to stir unrest in our streets. I want it to be known that we will not allow a handful of opportunists to bring unrest to Turkey just to protect their plundering schemes,” Mr Erdogan said.
“Pointing to the streets instead of courtrooms to defend theft, plunder, lawlessness and fraud is a grave irresponsibility,” Mr Erdogan said.
“Just as we have not surrendered to street terrorism until now, we will not bow to vandalism in the future either.”
Since Mr Imamoglu’s arrest, thousands of people have gathered at Istanbul’s city hall for night-time rallies, and clashes have erupted between demonstrators and police in Istanbul, Turkish capital Ankara and Turkey’s third-largest city, Izmir.
At Ankara’s Middle East Technical University late on Thursday police deployed tear gas and water cannons to disperse the demonstration. Students said that rubber bullets were used, but the government has denied that.
The Interior Ministry said more than 50 people were detained, and 16 police officers were injured, following the protests.
On Friday, authorities in Ankara and Izmir announced a five-day prohibition on demonstrations, following a similar ban imposed earlier by the Istanbul governor’s office.
However, thousands of people marched to Istanbul’s city hall to rally against the mayor’s arrest.
Police used pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets to push back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a barricade in front of the city’s historic aqueduct and threw flares, stones and other objects at them.
Police also broke up demonstrations in Ankara, as well as in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, resorting to forceful measures at times, according to images shown on the private Halk TV.
Thousands marched in several other cities calling on the government to resign, the station reported.
At least 97 people were detained nationwide during the protests, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
Also Friday, gunmen opened fire on the Iraqi consulate in Istanbul, the Turkish and Iraqi foreign ministries said. No injuries were reported.
Iraq’s foreign ministry said in a statement that unknown assailants riding on a motorcycle and armed with an assault rifle, fired eight shots at the building before fleeing.
The Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement that “the necessary investigation is being carried out meticulously by our security units” and “those responsible will be brought to justice”.
It said measures had been taken to secure Iraqi diplomatic missions in Ankara, Istanbul and Gaziantep.
It was not clear what may have motivated the shooting.
The bans on protests came after the country’s justice minister acknowledged people’s right to demonstrate, but said that street protests amid ongoing judicial investigations were unacceptable.
Still, Ozgur Ozel, the chairman of the Republican People’s Party, CHP, made a new appeal for people to gather and demonstrate.
“I invite tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions to peacefully demonstrate, express our democratic reaction, and exercise our constitutional rights,” he said.
Mr Ozel said: “To those who say that calling people to the streets is irresponsible, I say this: We are not the ones filling these streets and squares. It is your lawlessness and injustices that have brought people out.”
Mr Imamoglu’s arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s presidential candidate in a primary on Sunday.
Mr Ozel has said that the primary, where around 1.5 million delegates can vote, will go ahead as planned.
The CHP has also urged citizens to participate in a symbolic election on Sunday – through ballot boxes to be set up across Turkey – to show solidarity with Mr Imamoglu.
Analysts say Mr Imamoglu could be removed from office and replaced by a “trustee mayor,” if he is formally charged with links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its Western allies.
Meanwhile, Mr Ozel announced that the CHP has decided to hold an extraordinary party congress on April 6, to thwart an alleged attempt by the authorities to appoint a “trustee chairman” to lead the party.
The decision came amid speculation that the authorities may be seeking to annul the party’s last congress held in 2023 over alleged vote-buying and other irregularities, and appoint a handpicked leader.
On Friday, the Borsa Istanbul’s benchmark index dropped by around 7%, prompting temporary trading suspensions aimed at preventing panic-driven sell-offs.
