A Turkish court was to rule on the detention of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, Sunday, after large crowds rallied while supporting him with the riot police.
The Caglayan court had to decide to invoice or release it, said its lawyer, after a fourth night of demonstrations sparked severe repression in the worst street disturbances in Turkey in more than a decade.
The popular opposition mayor, who is the greatest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was arrested on Wednesday, just a few days before he was appointed the main CHP candidate for the 2028 presidential race.
He was detained as part of two probes alleging a graft and “helping a terrorist organization” – of the charges he declared on Saturday to the “immoral and baseless” police.
The move against him sparked demonstrations in Istanbul and has since spread to more than 55 of the 81 provinces of Turkey, arousing battles in execution with the police.
Following more mass demonstrations on Saturday, police arrested 323 people, wrote the Minister of the Interior, Ali Yerlikaya, on X.
Also Sunday, the CHP continued its advance with its primary primary for a long time to appoint Imamoglu its presidential candidate, with surveys opening at 8:00 am (0500 GMT), said an AFP correspondent.
The party opened the vote to anyone, not only to the members of the party, in the hope of a massive demonstration of support for the besieged mayor, widely considered as the only politician capable of challenging Erdogan.
– rubber bullets, grenades –
“Dictators are cowards!” And “AKP (the party in power of Turkey), you are not silent!” Read some of the signs of Istanbul's demonstration on Saturday evening, which seemed larger and dense than the previous night.
Anti-riot police used rubber bullets, spray pepper grenades and percussion on the demonstrators of Istanbul, hardening their methods shortly after midnight (2100 GMT) and forcing those who could take refuge in the building of the Town Hall, said an AFP correspondent.
In the capital Ankara, the riot police used water cannons to repel the demonstrators, while in the western coastal city of the Izmir police, blocked a student march heading towards the local offices of the AKP.
The chief of the CHP, Ozgur Ozel, addressing mass demonstrators in Istanbul, told them that they had “more than half a million”.
The nocturnal demonstrations which took place across the country, began shortly after the Emmamoglu of Imamoglu at the Palais de Justice to answer questions from prosecutors in the two surveys.
The first interrogation started at 7:30 p.m., ending around midnight, the second starting shortly after, ending around 7:30 am, said media reports and its legal team.
Police installed a close security cordon around the courthouse where around 1,000 demonstrators stood nearby by shouting slogans, said an AFP correspondent.
– Turkish lira slides –
Earlier on Saturday, the 53 -year -old mayor denied the charges against him, telling the police that his arrest had made damage unspeakable to the reputation of Turkey, in a statement published by the Town Hall.
“This process has not only had the international reputation of Turkey, but also broke the sense of justice and public confidence in the economy,” he said.
This decision against him seriously harmed the LIRA and caused chaos on the Turke financial markets with the Benchmark index Bist 100 closing on Friday, almost 8.0%.
“We are here today to defend the candidate we voted for,” Aykut Cenk, 30, told AFP outside the court, holding a Turkish flag.
“Just as people took the streets to defend Erdogan after the coup of July 15 (2016), we are now going down the streets for Imamoglu,” said Cenk.
“We are not the enemy of the state, but what is happening is illegal.”
The troubles spread quickly despite a prohibition of protest in the three largest cities in Turkey and a warning from Erdogan that the authorities would not tolerate “street terror”.
BUR-HMW / JFX
