Predawn arrest of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu sets off protests in several cities that are likely to continue into the weekend.
Turkish protesters took to the streets for a second consecutive night following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as part of a separate corruption and terrorism investigation.
Demonstrations were held at Istanbul’s City Hall on Thursday, where small groups of protesters scuffled with police as they tried to approach the city’s fenced-off Taksim Square – the site of mass demonstrations in 2013.
In Ankara, the Turkish capital, police used water cannon to disperse crowds at Middle East Technical University. Smaller protests were also reported in the city of Izmir, on the Turkish coast, and Adana, in southern Turkiye.
The mayor was arrested in a predawn raid on Wednesday, just days before he was due to announce his run for the presidency in 2028 as an opposition candidate. Also detained were dozens of prominent figures, including journalists, businesspeople and staff members of the Istanbul municipal government.
Imamoglu is a member of the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP) and is considered one of the top rivals of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He faces multiple charges, including “bribery, extortion, corruption, aggravated fraud, and illegally obtaining personal data for profit as part of a criminal organisation”, along with separate charges for allegedly collaborating with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in municipal elections.
The PKK is designated as a “terrorist organisation” in Turkiye and is behind a long-running rebellion aimed at creating an independent Kurdistan.
Earlier this week, a Turkish university nullified Imamoglu’s diploma for “irregularities”, a move that could see him banned from politics. The charges add to a growing list of legal probes against the mayor, some dating back to 2022.
The protests, triggered by Imamoglu’s detention, appear set to continue into the weekend despite a four-day ban imposed by the government.
Addressing a rally outside Istanbul’s City Hall on Thursday evening, CHP leader Ozgur Ozel called on supporters to continue demonstrating.
“Yes, I am calling the people to the streets,” he said, urging them not to resort to violence.
Some have also taken to social media to air their grievances, sharing 18.6 million posts within 24 hours of Imamoglu’s detention, according to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya. Among them, 261 social media accounts were deemed to be “inciting” public hatred or crime, leading police to detain 37 suspected account users, he said.
Turkish market trading has also been hit by the surprise arrest. Trading was temporarily halted on Wednesday to prevent panic selling, while the lira fell to a record low.
Despite the turmoil, President Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party have continued to defend Imamoglu’s detention.
Omer Celik, the party’s spokesperson, urged the opposition to respect the legal process.
“What a politician should do is follow the judicial process,” Celik told the media. “None of us have any information about the content of the [criminal] file.”