At least 53 people were arrested in the latest protests following the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, which are spreading to several cities across the country, while the number of people detained for posting ‘provocative’ on social networks has risen to 54, according to the Turkish Minister of the Interior, Ali Yerlikaya, who – like Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan – has criticised the opposition for inciting the protests and ‘never responding to the courts’ accusations’.
According to Turkish media reports, despite the ban in force until Sunday on protests and street rallies imposed by the governor of Istanbul, thousands of people have been gathering in the last days around Saraçhane Park in the historic district of Fatih, and the protests are expected to continue until Sunday, when it is expected that the judge will decide whether to release İmamoğlu or order him to be arrested pending trial. On Sunday, the CHP – Turkey’s main opposition party – will also hold primary elections to choose its candidate for the presidential elections in which the Istanbul mayor was to be the sole candidate.
Following the ban on protests in Istanbul, the governor of Ankara has issued a similar ban from 2pm today until midnight on 25 March due to student protests against İmamoğlu’s detention. In Izmir, the governor’s office also issued a statement banning any kind of demonstration or protest for five days.
In Istanbul, CHP leader Özgür Özel warned the police against any intervention against the demonstrators; meanwhile, tensions escalated when a group of people tried to advance last night towards the iconic Taksim Square, which led the police to intervene. The incidents continued throughout the night and there were clashes with police even in front of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality headquarters in Fatih. In Saraçhane, Özel called on CHP supporters to defy the governor’s order and take to the streets, reiterating the discourse that the arrests of CHP members and mayors are part of a political persecution.
Turkish government says opposition protests are ‘irresponsible’
Turkey’s interior minister immediately criticised the words of the opposition leader, calling him ‘irresponsible, to say the least’ and asking citizens not to fall for provocations. For his part, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç backed Yerlikaya’s comments and reiterated that legal disputes should be resolved in court, not in the streets: ‘Those in positions of responsibility must show the utmost caution in their statements,’ said Tunç, who promised that once the investigation is concluded, all evidence, accusations and defence arguments will be made public in full detail to ‘be subjected to public scrutiny’.
According to Yerlikaya, at least 16 police officers have been injured so far in clashes with demonstrators, and legal action has been taken against 53 people for violating the ban on protests, property damage and resisting authority. Yerlikaya also reported via the social network X that the number of people detained for posting ‘provocative’ messages on social networks about the detention of Ekrem İmamoğlu has now risen to 54.
Erdoğan: ‘They know the corruption allegations are true’
Yesterday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan harshly criticised the opposition‘s response to İmamoğlu’s detention, coinciding with the publication of images in which the police discovered one million euros in cash in the home of a well-known businessman closely linked to the mayor. ‘The opposition’s attempts to present their internal disputes or legal issues as the country’s main problem are the height of hypocrisy,’ said the Turkish president during an iftar – dinner to break the fast of Ramadan – in Ankara, accusing the CHP party of seeking to evade its responsibilities by deceiving public opinion.
‘They could say ‘this degree was obtained properly’ (in reference to the university degree withdrawn from the mayor of Istanbul) or ‘there is no corruption or illegality in the municipality’, and discuss these issues with experts. But they don’t, they can’t, because they know that these accusations are true… Whether it’s the question of the university degree or the problems of corruption and theft (in the Istanbul municipality), the opposition never responds to the accusations made by the judiciary. Instead, they reduce the issue to political slogans, resorting to the easy way of provoking their bases and deceiving public opinion,’ denounced Erdoğan.
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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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