ANKARA — Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) remained defiant after Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a potential presidential contender, was detained on terrorism and corruption charges on Wednesday.
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel addressed tens of thousands gathered outside Istanbul’s municipality offices that evening, describing Imamoglu as Turkey’s future president.
“I am calling on you to support Ekrem, the future president of Turkey,” Ozel told the crowd. “Is it fair or just to treat him this way when his only crime is being the future president?” he asked.
Turkish police detained Imamoglu on Wednesday morning, accusing him of corruption and links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and is a designated terrorist organization by Ankara, Washington and most European capitals.
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc earlier Wednesday announced that a total of 106 people, including Imamoglu, were detained as part of two separate investigations on corruption and terrorism accusations.
The detentions came just days before the CHP’s primary, where party members are widely expected to elect Imamoglu as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2028 elections, drawing widespread outcry from opposition voters.
Speaking on Wednesday night, Ozel urged all CHP members to head to the ballot box in support of Imamoglu.
Despite a four-day demonstration ban imposed following the detentions, tens of thousands gathered outside Istanbul’s municipality offices in Sarachane that evening, chanting, “There is no salvation alone; either all of us together or none of us.”
Dilek Imamoglu, wife of the Istanbul mayor, also addressed the crowd, declaring, “Do not accept it; if you do, democracy dies. The day the government decides its opponents is the day democracy dies.”
Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, delivers a speech during a demonstration following the arrest of the Mayor of Esenyurt, at the Esenyurt Square in Istanbul, on Oct. 31, 2024. (—YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images)
Seen as one of the strongest challengers to Erdogan, Imamoglu faced another setback even before the detentions. On Tuesday, Istanbul University revoked his college degree, potentially disqualifying him from running for president, as a college degree is a constitutional requirement for candidacy in Turkey.
In the capital, Ankara, thousands gathered near the Justice Ministry to protest the detentions.
Outcry at home and abroad
“Our nation will give the necessary response to those who steal the will of the people,” Imamoglu wrote on a handwritten note shared on his social media accounts following his detention around 7:30 a.m. local time. “First, I entrust myself to God, then to our nation.”
Among the detainees were also two Istanbul district mayors from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), including Sisli Mayor Resul Emrah Sahan, and close aides of Imamoglu, according to a list released by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency.
Separately, prominent journalist Ismail Saymaz was also detained on Wednesday over his alleged involvement in 2013 mass protests against Erdogan’s government, according to the opposition-aligned Halk TV.
Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey director for Human Rights Watch, said the detentions were a “flagrant abuse of the justice system.”
Wednesday’s detentions signal a chilling escalation in Turkey’s crackdown on dissent in recent months, with the imprisonment of several prominent figures from different political backgrounds, including far-right opposition leader Umit Ozdag and talent agent Ayse Barim.
“The detentions today are the culmination of a pattern of politically motivated investigations and detentions over the past five months initiated by the Istanbul chief prosecutor, mostly relying on bogus terrorism accusations, against dozens of politicians, activists and journalists,” Sinclair-Webb told Al-Monitor.
In his initial reaction to the detentions early Wednesday, Ozel condemned the detentions as a “coup” against democracy.
Tunc hit back at the criticism, arguing that Turkey’s judiciary is independent. “To associate the investigations and cases initiated by the judiciary with our president is an overstep and a lack of respect for boundaries,” he said. “In our country, the separation of powers between the legislature, executive and judiciary is fundamental.”
The opposition parties, as well as international groups, in turn, slammed the charges as politically motivated.
Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, said the detentions were “deeply worrying.”
Tulay Hatimogullari, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, said the detentions were unacceptable.
“This operation, which shatters faith in justice, is the manipulation of politics through the judiciary,” she wrote on X.
The European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur, Nacho Sanchez Amor, also expressed concern, saying the move has sped up Turkey’s authoritarian drift.
“Following with huge concern the news on Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu’s detention among 100 people along with a 4-day ban on demonstrations,” he wrote on X. “Full speed towards a complete authoritarian state.”
Lira falls to record lows
The Istanbul Stock Exchange dropped by nearly 10% after the detentions, with trading being halted several times. Meanwhile, the lira traded at around 38 to the dollar as of Wednesday morning local time, up from 36.5 on Tuesday.
“Everything necessary for the healthy functioning of the markets is being done,” Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek wrote on X.
Turkey’s Central Bank sold at least $5 billion in hard currency to stop the slide of Turkish lira through back doors, Reuters reported, citing bankers. The move came after the lira fell to a record low of 42 in the immediate aftermath of the detention, the agency said.
This developing story has been updated since initial publication.