A Turkish court officially placed the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu in a state of arrest as part of a transplant investigation on Sunday, after a fourth night of mass demonstrations triggered heavy clashes with the riot police.
The decision was confirmed by one of the lawyers of Imamoglu, the court which was also due to reign in a second investigation “linked to terrorism” in the popular mayor of the opposition, whose detention triggered the worst street demonstrations in Turkey in more than a decade.
“No despair! Keep fighting!” wrote the main opposition party CHP on X, denouncing it as “a political coup”.
The news came while voters voted in a CHP primary to appoint the party candidate for the presidential race of 2028.
The longtime vote was the event which sparked the arrest of Imamoglu, which is widely considered as the only politician capable of challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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.
This decision against him sparked demonstrations in Istanbul who have since spread to more than 55 of the 81 provinces of Turkey, triggering racing battles with the police, who arrested 323 people overnight, officials said.
The surveys opened at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) with 5,600 urns in 81 cities. The CHP said that the vote was open to everyone, not only to the members, in the hope of a massive demonstration of support for Imamoglu.
“I invite our nation … in the polls. We are advancing our vote to support President Ekrem: for democracy, justice and the future,” said his wife, Dilek Kaya Imamoglu, on X, shortly after voting with his son Selim.
“We are not afraid and we will never give up.”
– rubber bullets, grenades –
Earlier, the opposition leader and chief of the CHP, Ozgur Ozel, said that he and the mayor's wife had been allowed to spend five minutes with Imamoglu after the accusation had ended his interrogation all night, saying that he was in a good mood.
“He said that this process had led to a great awakening for Turkey of which he was happy,” said Ozel, who put the participation rate in the Istanbul demonstration on Saturday at more than half a million.
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 west coastal city of the Izmir police, blocked a student march heading towards the local offices of the AKP party in power.
“Dictators are cowards!” And “AKP, you are not silent!” Read the signs of certain demonstrators.
The night demonstrations began shortly after Imamoglu was taken to the courthouse to answer the questions of prosecutors in the two investigations.
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 –
On Saturday, the 53 -year -old mayor denied the charges against him, telling the police that his arrest had made incalculable damage like 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 provoked chaos on the financial markets of Turkey, the Benchmark index Bist 100 closing Friday almost eight percent lower.
“We are here today to defend the candidate we voted for,” Aykut Cenk, 30, told AFP outside the court, holding a Turkish flag.
“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 / JHB
