The main party of the opposition in Turkey, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), has formally nominated the former – until his arrest and imprisonment – mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, as its candidate for the next presidential elections following the party’s primary elections celebrated last Sunday: an announcement that took place today during a general assembly of the party in Ankara presided over by its leader, Özgür Özel, who yesterday called for mass demonstrations throughout Turkey.
In statements reported by the Turkish press, Özel announced a mass protest in the Maltepe district of Istanbul for Saturday, 29 March, at which İmamoğlu will be announced as the party’s candidate for the next presidential elections, originally scheduled for 2028 but which the CHP wants brought forward.
Özel, who made these statements together with the new mayor of Istanbul elected after İmamoğlu’s imprisonment, also said in an interview with the newspaper Cumhuriyet that after the end of Ramadan – which ends on Saturday – the party plans to call mass protests in the main cities of Turkey to “demand early elections”, including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, Adana, Trabzon, Antalya and Mersin.
So far, according to the latest data provided today by the Turkish Minister of the Interior, Ali Yerlikaya, the protests in Turkey have resulted in 1,879 being detained, of which 879 have been finally arrested. Yerlikaya also pointed out that 150 police officers had been injured in the protests, and therefore he condemned the violent attacks against the security forces.
In fact, in the last few hours, the Turkish justice system has ordered the release of a total of seven journalists who had been detained earlier this week while covering the protests against İmamoğlu’s arrest. A court had initially ordered their arrest for violating the law on assemblies and demonstrations, but the Turkish authorities confirmed today that they have been finally released. ‘It is essential to examine the details of these cases. No one wants journalists to be arrested,’ Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç told the press yesterday.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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