On Sunday (23rd), a court in Turkey detained Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and dozens of co-defendants on charges of “corruption.”
Imamoglu, a member of Turkey’s largest opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), denounced this as a “political coup” orchestrated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to Agence France-Presse’s report on the case:
Imamoglu was elected as the Mayor of Istanbul in 2019 and successfully re-elected last year. The 53-year-old Imamoglu, after winning the election in Turkey’s largest city and commercial center with a population of nearly 16 million, became Erdogan’s top political opponent.
Imamoglu was arrested before dawn on the 19th of this month on suspicion of “corruption” and “supporting terrorist organizations,” stemming from an election agreement between the CHP and a pro-Kurdish party. Authorities accused this pro-Kurdish party of having links to the “Kurdistan Workers’ Party” (PKK), which the government has designated as a terrorist organization.
According to a pre-trial detention order obtained by Agence France-Presse on Sunday, “Imamoglu was detained for establishing and leading a criminal organization, bribery, corruption, illegal recording of personal information, and manipulating bids.”
The order stated that “although there are strong suspicions that this person has committed crimes supporting armed terrorist organizations, at this stage, it is not necessary to detain him on these potential charges,” as the authorities have decided to imprison him on charges of financial crimes.
Imamoglu has been removed from his position as mayor and is under custody.
Around 90 people were arrested on the 19th of this month, including two district mayors in Istanbul. One was charged with “corruption” and the other with “terrorism.”
Both district mayors are members of the CHP; founded by Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the CHP is the oldest political party in Turkey, holding 134 seats in parliament, while Erdogan’s “Justice and Development Party” (AKP) has 272 seats.
In the local elections in March 2024, the CHP won the capital Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, and the major industrial city of Bursa, among 35 provincial capitals out of the 81 provinces.
Imamoglu was set to be appointed as the CHP’s presidential candidate for the 2028 elections, being the only candidate in the primaries.
Just hours before his arrest, Istanbul University revoked Imamoglu’s degree, posing a challenge to his presidential candidacy, as the Turkish constitution requires all presidential candidates to have a higher education degree.
In 2023, Imamoglu was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for “insulting” a member of the Turkish High Election Board, and he was not nominated by his party to run in the presidential elections. His appeal is still pending.
The CHP decided to proceed with the primaries on Sunday and called on all Turks to participate, even non-party members, in an effort to turn the election into a referendum for all. The Istanbul city hall reported that 15 million people voted in the primaries, with 13 million of them not being CHP members.
Imamoglu’s arrest has sparked the largest protests in Turkey since 2013. Back then, people protested against the government’s plans to transform Gezi Park near Taksim Square in Istanbul into a shopping center, posing a significant challenge to Erdogan’s rule.
Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Istanbul on the 21st and 22nd of this month, with large-scale protests also occurring in Ankara, Izmir, and other cities.
According to Agence France-Presse, at least 55 out of Turkey’s 81 provinces held gatherings.
Analysts say that the protests, mainly led by young people, reflect public dissatisfaction not only because of Imamoglu’s arrest.
In response to the waves of protests, Turkish authorities have requested the closure of more than 700 accounts on social media platform X.
(Translated via Xinhua News Agency)