Turkey protests: Everything we learn about mass demonstrations after Erdogan rival jailed
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in growing protests across Turkey after the main rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was arrested and charged with corruption in a move widely decried as politically-motivated.
Ekrem İmamoglu is seen as the main political challenger to Mr Erdogan and was nominated has been nominated the presidential candidate for the main opposition party the Republican People’s Party (CHP) for elections in 2028 despite his arrest.
Mr Imamoglu was elected mayor of Turkey’s largest city in March 2019, in a major blow to Mr Erdogan and the president’s governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), which had controlled Istanbul for a quarter-century. Mr Erdogan’s party pushed to void the municipal election results in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities. The challenge resulted in a repeat of the election a few months later, which Mr Imamoglu also won.
The mayor retained his seat following local elections last year, during which the CHP made significant gains against the AKP.
His detention has sparked the largest wave of street demonstrations in Turkey in more than a decade and deepened concerns over democracy and the rule of law in the country, with people taking to the streets for a sixth straight day on Monday.
Here is what we know about the protests so far.
What is happening in Turkey
Turkey’s largest cities have been rocked by protests for nearly a week as hundreds of thousands of protestors turned out in support of Mr İmamoğlu.
The daily protests have escalated since they began on Wednesday after Mr İmamoglu was detained, with police deploying water cannons, tear gas, pepper spray and firing plastic pellets at protesters in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, some of whom hurled stones, fireworks and other missiles at riot police.
A total of 1,133 people have been detained, with the interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, saying more than 100 police officers have been injured.
The Disk-Basin-Is union said at least eight reporters and photojournalists had been detained in what it said was an “attack on press freedoms and the people’s right to learn the truth”.
What are the protests about?
The protests were sparked when Mr İmamoglu, the current mayor of Istanbul, was detained on Wednesday on corruption suspicions.
On Sunday, as he received CHP’s official nomination to run for president, Mr İmamoglu was formally arrested on corruption charges and jailed, pending trial.
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said: “İmamoglu is on the one hand in prison and on the other hand on the way to the presidency.”
Mr İmamoğlu was jailed on suspicion of running a criminal organisation, accepting bribes, extortion, illegally recording personal data and bid-rigging. A request for him to be imprisoned on terror-related charges was denied.
The mayor labelled all the claims “unimaginable accusations and slanders,” according to Sky News.
Following the court’s ruling, Mr İmamoglu was transferred to Silivri prison, west of Istanbul.
A further 47 people were jailed pending trial alongside Mr İmamoğlu, including two district mayors from Istanbul. One of those mayors was replaced with a government appointee.
A further 44 suspects were released under judicial control.
What have authorities said?
Mr İmamoglu’s imprisonment is widely regarded as a political move to remove a major challenger to Mr Erdoğan from the next presidential race.
Government officials strongly reject the accusations and insist that Turkey’s courts operate independently.
Turkey’s next presidential election must be held by May 7 2028, and under the current constitution, Mr Erdoğan cannot run for another term once his current term in office is finished.
Mr Erdoğan has been the president since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) won power in 2003.
What legal battles has Imamoglu already faced?
Mr Imamoglu’s political battle began in 2019, when he spearheaded a breakthrough opposition victory after years in the doldrums. He won the Istanbul municipal election in March, only for authorities to annul the result in May due to technicalities such as unsigned results documents and unauthorised ballot box officials.
The legal threats began that June, just before the re-run vote, when Erdogan said he would face consequences for allegedly insulting the governor of the Black Sea province Ordu while campaigning there. Despite that, Mr Imamoglu prevailed decisively in the re-run, taking 54 per cent of the votes.
Legal threats grew more serious in 2021 when prosecutors sought a four-year prison sentence for Mr Imamoglu on a charge of insulting election officials, based on him calling them “idiots” in a speech just after the March 2019 election was annulled.
The following year a court sentenced him to two years and seven months in prison in the insult trial, triggering protests by thousands in support of the mayor.
In the last two years, the legal onslaught accelerated. In June 2023, a court begin hearing a case against Mr Imamoglu in a tender rigging case, related to his time as mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikduzu district between 2014 and 2019.
Late last year, Mr Imamoglu and numerous other opposition officials were hit with a widespread legal crackdown that resulted in some losing their elected positions.
Early this year he denied charges of attempting to influence the judiciary following his criticism of legal cases against opposition-run municipalities.
In February, prosecutors issued a third indictment against Mr Imamoglu for remarks criticising the city’s prosecutor, seeking to jail him for seven years for insulting a public official.
Then came the latest detention. Mr Imamoglu denies all the allegations against him.
Is Turkey safe to visit?
The Foreign Office has current warnings about travelling to Turkey, and advises against all travel to within 10 kilometres of the border with Syria “due to fighting and a heightened risk of terrorism”.
Broadly, the foreign office does not advise against travel to the rest of Turkey but it issued warnings about counterfeit alcohol products, saying there had been a rise in the number of deaths and serious illness cause by drinking illegally produced spirits, particularly in Ankara and Istanbul.
The foreign office also pointed out there had been a spate of recent terror attacks, and noted that demonstrations that happen in cities occasionally could become violent.
“Police have used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protests,” the office said.
“Avoid all demonstrations and leave the area if one develops. Local transport routes may be disrupted.”
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report
Source: independent.co.uk
