Istanbul's embattled Ekrem Imamoglu spent his first night in jail Monday a day after his suspension as mayor, as 10 journalists were detained for covering the mass demonstrations that his detention sparked across Turkey.
The protests began in Istanbul after Imamoglu's arrest on Wednesday and have since spread to more than 55 of Turkey's 81 provinces, sparking clashes with riot police in the country's worst street protests in more than a decade.
The popular Imamoglu has been widely seen as the only politician who could defeat Turkey's longtime authoritarian leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the ballot box, and his arrest came just days before he was officially nominated as a presidential candidate by the opposition CHP party for the 2028 elections, a party spokesman told AFP on Monday.
The Republican People's Party (CHP) – the main opposition party and the second largest party in parliament – held a primary election on Sunday, at which the only candidate was Imamoglu, the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Imamoglu has been arrested, interrogated, jailed and stripped of his mayorship in less than a week following a graft and terror probe that the opposition has slammed as a political "coup."
In just four days he went from being the popular mayor of Istanbul—a post that launched Erdogan's political rise decades earlier—to being arrested, interrogated, jailed, and stripped of the mayorship as a result of a graft and terror probe.
Imamoglu's arrest and jailing drew a sharp condemnation late Sunday from France's foreign ministry, which denounced his imprisonment as "a serious attack on democracy".
Earlier on Sunday, some 15 million people had voted in a symbolic primary election organized by the main opposition CHP in support of Imamoglu as the party's presidential candidate for the 2028 election.
Observers said it was the looming primary that triggered the move against Imamoglu, the main political rival of Erdogan, who has dominated Turkey's politics since 2003, first as prime minister and then as president.
Early on Monday, police detained 10 Turkish journalists "for covering the protests", the MLSA rights group said in a statement, saying most were covering the mass demonstrations outside City Hall, where tens of thousands rallied late Sunday.
As on previous nights, the gathering descended into fierce clashes between protesters and riot police, who could be seen kicking and beating people as they sought to disperse the crowds in Istanbul and elsewhere, AFP correspondents said.
There was no immediate word on how many protesters had been arrested overnight, but Istanbul governor Davut Gul accused demonstrators of "damaging mosques and cemeteries" in a post on X.
"We ask our citizens to stay away from environments where masked people are present and not to participate in any unauthorized demonstrations. Any attempt to disrupt public order will not be tolerated," he wrote.
'I will win this war'
As he was being shipped off to Silivri prison on the megacity's western outskirts, Imamoglu had denounced the judicial moves against him as a political "execution without trial".
In a later message from prison, he sounded a defiant tone.
"I wear a white shirt that you cannot stain. I have a strong arm that you cannot twist. I won't bump an inch. I will win this war," he said in a message passed through his lawyers.
Addressing the masses at City Hall on the fifth evening of protests, his wife Dilek Kaya Imamoglu was also defiant, telling the authorities, "He will defeat you! "You will lose."
"They arrested Ekrem. They do not realize how this is seen by millions as an unjust and unlawful decision. But they will learn. There's very deep pain over this blatant injustice," she said.
As the court drama played out, millions voted in a highly symbolic CHP primary that the party opened up beyond its 1.7 million members to anyone who wanted to vote, effectively turning it into a de facto referendum.
"Out of a total of 15 million votes, 13,211,000 are solidarity votes," City Hall said, referring to the number of ballots cast by those who were not CHP members in voting stations in 81 cities.
People turned out in such large numbers that voting was extended by an extra three-and-a-half hours.
Faced with the massive protests, Turkey's authorities sought to shut down more than 700 accounts on X, the online platform said Sunday.
"We object to multiple court orders from the Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority to block over 700 accounts of news organizations, journalists, political figures, students, and others within Turkiye," its communications team said in a statement.
"We believe this decision from the Turkish government is not only unlawful; it hinders millions of Turkish users from news and political discourse in their country," it said.
With AFP
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