Turkiye said Thursday that he rejected the “prejudiced” international statements about the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, and the national protests caused by him, since the authorities arrested almost 1,900 people who participated in the demonstrations.
Imamoglu, the greatest political rival of President Tayyip Erdogan who directs him in some surveys, was imprisoned waiting for graft trial on Sunday. His arrest caused the greatest anti -government protests in a decade and led to mass arrests throughout the country.
The main Republican Popular Party (CHP) of the opposition of Imamoglu, other opposition parties, Western rights and powers have said that the case against the mayor, dismissed from his work due to the case, was a politicized effort to eliminate a possible electoral threat to Erdogan.
The government denies any influence on the Judiciary and says that the courts are independent.
In statements to the representatives of the international media in Istanbul, the Minister of Justice, Yilmaz Tunc, said that Ankara had asked his European partners to act with “common sense”, and added the severity of the accusations against Imamoglu required his arrest.
“We do not want the arrest of any politician, but there is evidence of a violation, then it can happen,” said Tunc through a translator.
“If we observe the severity of the accusations, and as there is the risk that the evidence can be hidden, the Judiciary has made a reasonable decision,” he added.
The CHP has asked the Turks to continue protesting, saying that it would organize demonstrations and meetings in different places of Istanbul and in other places. Erdogan has dismissed protests as a “show” and warned about the legal consequences for protesters.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that 1,879 people had been arrested since the protests broke out last Wednesday, added that the courts jailed 260 of them waiting for trial. He added that 489 were released and that another 662 were still being prosecuted, while 150 police officers were injured.
The rights groups have asked Turkiye to investigate what they called the excessive use of force by the police while dispersing the crowds and urged the government to allow manifestations to a large extent peaceful. Western leaders have said that the case marked the democratic setback.
When asked about the moment of the arrest of Imamoglu, which happened days before his announcement as a presidential candidate of the CHP in the next elections, established by 2028, and after a legal offensive of the months in the opposition, Tust said that the Judiciary only looked at criminal reports.
The minister added that being an elected official did not mean impunity.
He also said that Erdogan was not being informed about the case against Imamoglu due to the confidentiality of the case, although the president has made several comments accusing the CHP and his corruption municipalities.
A day before Imamoglu outside last week, a university annulled its diploma, an eligibility requirement for candidates in presidential elections.
When asked about the arrest and subsequent launch of seven local journalists who cover the demonstrations in Istanbul, including a photojournalist of Agite France Presse (AFP), Tunc said that there was an erroneous perception about Turkiye’s treatment towards journalists and that he did not imprison reporters.
Reporters Without Borders, a defender of freedom of expression, classified Turkiye 158 from 180 countries in their 2024 press freedom index. He said that about 90 percent of the media were under the influence of the government, which led the Turks to become more opposition or independent media.
Tunc said the index did not reflect the truth.
