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
