Tens of thousands of protesters took part in the demonstrations across Turkey last week after the main rival to the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ekrem Imamoglu was formally arrested and charged with corruption.
The embattled Imamoglu who is the mayor of Istanbul, was due to be selected as the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) 2028 presidential nominee in a vote on Sunday, March 23, 2025.
Responding to Imamoglu’s arrest, that Sunday night saw a ramping up of the worst unrest the country ever witnessed in more than a decade. The protesters fired upon with tear gas and rubber bullets by security forces carried on their protest defying the threats.
Imamoglu said the allegations against were politically motivated, insisting, “I will never bow,” on his X handle before he was remanded in custody.
Erdogan has condemned the demonstrations and accused the CHP of trying to “disturb the peace and polarise our people”.
Crowds amassed near Istanbul’s city hall by early evening on Sunday for a fifth night and could be seen waving Turkish flags and chanting in front of a row of riot police.
Officers were seen firing water cannons at some protesters and using pepper spray.
Imamoglu’s wife Dilek Kaya Imamoglu addressed the large crowds outside the city hall, telling demonstrators that the “injustice” her husband has faced has “struck a chord with every conscience”.
The demonstrations in response to Imamoglu’s arrest were the largest the country has seen since the Gezi protests of 2013, which began in Istanbul over the demolition of a local park.
In total, rallies took place in at least 55 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, or more than two-thirds of the country, according to a tally by French news agency AFP.
Imamoglu was one of more than 100 people, including other politicians, journalists and businessmen, detained as part of an investigation on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.
He was formally arrested on Sunday, March 22 and charged with “establishing and managing a criminal organisation, taking bribes, extortion, unlawfully recording personal data and rigging a tender”.
He was remanded in custody pending trial. AFP and local media reported that he had been taken to a prison in Silivri.
Imamoglu has also been suspended from his post as mayor, Turkey’s interior ministry said in a statement.
In social media posts, Imamoglu criticised his arrest as a “black stain on our democracy” and said judicial procedure was not being followed.
He urged people across the country to join protests and take part in Sunday’s vote.
In a message shared on X through his lawyers late on Sunday, Imamoglu sent his greetings to those protesting and said that voters had shown that Turkey has had “enough” of Erdogan.
Imamoglu was the only person running in the CHP’s presidential candidate selection.
The arrest does not prevent Imamoglu’s candidacy and election as president, but if he is convicted of any of the charges against him, he will not be able to run.
