Thousands of Turks increased the protests on Thursday despite the prohibition of street meetings on what they called the anti -democratic arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, since the opposition sought to express the guilt to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Even when the police erected barricades and dozens of people were arrested by social media publications, protesters met at a municipal headquarters and a police station in Istanbul and in public universities and squares throughout the country.
Imamoglu, 54, Erdogan’s main political rival, was assumed on Wednesday facing graft positions and helping a terrorist group, a movement that the opposition condemned as a “attempted attempted” and that caused an initial round of demonstrations and criticisms of European leaders.
The movement against the popular mayor of two periods crowns a legal offensive of a month against opposition figures that has been criticized as a politicized attempt to damage its electoral perspectives and silence dissent, accuses the government.
In an interview, Ozgur Ozel, president of the Republican Popular Party (CHP) of the main opposition, including Imamoglu, said Erdogan feared to face the mayor in a vote and wanted to “take him out of the game” and cut the ties of his party with the city.
He said that any movement that comes from Imamoglu to run for president in the next elections would only strengthen the support of the opposition, and added that the CHP will appoint his candidate on Sunday in a scheduled vote.
“We believe that the Imamoglu will win. If your candidacy is blocked, we believe that this will become much greater support,” Ozel told Reuters In his first interview with foreign media since detention.
“This nation has never forgiven anyone who tries to lift the legitimacy of the ballots,” he said next to a small room at the headquarters of the municipality of Istanbul, with crowds that meet outside, where he intends to spend the night until Imamoglu is released.
WARNINGS
The elections are not scheduled until 2028, but they would have to arrive before if Erdogan, 71, who has directed Turkiye for 22 years, wants to work again. Imamoglu leads the president in some surveys.
The government rejects criticism and says that the Judiciary is independent. He has warned Erdogan or politics to the arrest of Imamogl, after which he imposed a four -day prohibition on meetings and restricted access to some social networks to restrict communications.
Police blocked the roads and parked trucks with water cannons near the police station where the mayor and other areas of the largest city in Turkiye are located.
Imamoglu asked the members of the Judiciary and Erdogan’s ruling party on Thursday to fight the injustice of his arrest.
“These events have gone beyond our political parties or ideals,” he said in X. “It’s time to raise our voices.”
Civil disobedience has stopped dramatically in Turkiye since the protests of the Gezi Park throughout the country against the Erdogan government in 2013, which caused a violent state repression.
But the crowds in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities have been singing anti -government slogans and, in Istanbul, hung Imamoglu banners and the founding leader of the nation, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, along with Turkish flags.
“They hurriedly triggered our mayor, whom we chose with our votes,” said Ali Izar, an opposition supporter in the center of Istanbul. “I don’t think this is a democratic practice and condemnation.”
Market autumn
The arrest caused an accident and a partial recovery in the lyre on Wednesday, which for Thursday was worth almost 38 to the dollar, compared to 36.67 in advance.
In the midst of concerns about the erosion of the rule of law and concerns about the most slow rate cuts, particular banking actions fell into the Istanbul Stock Exchange, and the Central Bank increased its night rate.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that 37 people had been arrested and accused of “provocative social networks that incite crime and hate” after arrest.
The authorities also confiscated a co -ownership construction company for Imamoglu and delivered control to a court, according to the reports of the Public Prosecutor of Istanbul and the investigation reports of financial crimes.
The personnel of the municipality of Istanbul constituted most of the 105 people arrested together with Imamoglu.
