Turkish police detained Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Wednesday in connection with two investigations into graft and \u201csupporting terror\u201d, a move that the main opposition party slammed as a politically motivated \u201ccoup\u201d.<\/p>\n
Imamoglu is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s main political rival and his detention came just days before he was to be named the candidate of the main opposition party CHP in the 2028 presidential election.<\/p>\n
Widely seen as the strongest challenger to Erdogan, Imamoglu has been targeted by a growing number of what critics say are spurious legal investigations.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of police joined the pre-dawn raid on his home, Imamoglu said on X, with the government saying his detention was linked to a corruption probe and another for \u201chelping a terror organisation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Shortly afterwards, Turkiye briefly blocked access to social networks, with police fanning out around City Hall and closing off Taksim Square, banning all protests for four days.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat has happened is an attempted coup,\u201d railed CHP leader Ozgur Ozel in a speech at City Hall. \u201cEkrem Imamoglu\u2019s freedom to be a candidate is not being taken away, it is this nation\u2019s freedom to elect him that is being taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n
His words were echoed by the mayor\u2019s wife, Dr Dilek Kaya Imamoglu. \u201cThis is a targeted political operation aimed at eliminating Turkiye\u2019s future president. This is a direct blow to the nation, and we will fight,\u201d she vowed.<\/p>\n
Ozgur Oze, leader of the main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party, makes a statement at Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality\u2019s headquarters on March 19. \u2014 AFP
\nAnger on the streets
\nThere was also anger on the streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re living in a dictatorship!\u201d angrily said a shopkeeper in his 40s called Kuzey. \u201cWhenever this guy and his dirty team see someone strong, they panic and do something illegal,\u201d he said, referring to Erdogan and the AKP who have been in power since 2003.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past, it was soldiers who carried out coups. Today it\u2019s the politicians,\u201d sighed 63-year-old Hasan Yildiz.<\/p>\n
Despite the protest ban, 300 people rallied outside the police station where the mayor was taken in Fatih district, yelling: \u201cImamoglu, you are not alone!\u201d and \u201cGovernment resign!\u201d<\/p>\n
Supporters and municipality workers hold a rally in support of Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu following his detention over a corruption probe outside Sisli municipality headquarters in Istanbul on March 19. \u2014 AFP
\nNearby, police fired teargas to disperse some 400 students protesting outside Istanbul University over its decision late Tuesday to revoke Imamoglu\u2019s degree, another AFP correspondent said.<\/p>\n
The pre-dawn raid on Imamoglu\u2019s home sparked chaos in the country\u2019s financial markets, with the Turkish lira falling 14.5 per cent against the dollar, and the benchmark BIST 100 shedding 7.02pc.<\/p>\n
\u2018Nothing short of a coup\u2019
\nJustice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said Imamoglu was one of seven people being investigated for the \u201calleged crime of aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation\u201d \u2014 a reference to the banned Kurdish PKK militant group.<\/p>\n
A second investigation, in which 100 people were being probed, involved allegations of \u201cbribery, extortion, corruption, aggravated fraud and illegally obtaining personal data for profit as part of a criminal organisation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Most of the 106 people cited in the probes belonged to the CHP, with critics saying it was a huge blow to the opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened this morning was nothing short of a coup against the main opposition party, with far-reaching consequences for Turkiye\u2019s political trajectory,\u201d political scientist Berk Esen at Istanbul\u2019s Sabanci University told AFP.<\/p>\n
The move against Imamoglu drew a sharp condemnation from Berlin, with the foreign ministry saying it was a \u201cserious setback for democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n
Several European mayors signed a statement denouncing his detention, saying it \u201cnot only poses a threat to individual rights but also challenges the fabric of democratic governance in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said she was \u201cshocked\u201d to learn of the raid, saying it was \u201ca new step in the Erdogan regime\u2019s crackdown on opposition mayors\u201d and demanding he be released immediately\u201c.<\/p>\n
Athens Mayor Haris Doukas also expressed concern over the move, writing on X: \u201cMy friend Ekrem, we are by your side.\u201d<\/p>\n
The raid occurred just hours after Istanbul University revoked Imamoglu\u2019s degree, amid claims it was falsely obtained. In Turkiye, presidential candidates must have a higher education qualification, with Imamoglu vowing late on Tuesday to fight the move through the courts.<\/p>\n
His detention came just days ahead of a key meeting of the CHP party on Sunday at which Imamoglu was to have been formally named its candidate for the 2028 elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Turkish police detained Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Wednesday in connection with two investigations into graft and \u201csupporting terror\u201d, a move that the main opposition party slammed as a politically motivated \u201ccoup\u201d. Imamoglu is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s main political rival and his detention came just days before he was to be named the candidate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7041,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7039\/revisions\/7041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}