ISTANBUL — Turkish police on Wednesday arrested Istanbul’s mayor — a preferred opposition chief and key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — and several other different distinguished figures as a part of investigations into alleged corruption and terror hyperlinks. It was a dramatic escalation in an ongoing crackdown on the opposition and dissenting voices in Turkey.
The state-run Anadolu Company mentioned prosecutors issued detention warrants for the mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, and a few 100 different folks. Amongst these detained was Imamoglu’s shut aide, Murat Ongun.
Authorities additionally closed a number of roads round Istanbul and banned demonstrations within the metropolis for 4 days in an obvious effort to stop protests following the arrest. Personal NTV tv mentioned two Istanbul district mayors had been amongst these detained.
Critics say the crackdown follows vital losses by Erdogan’s ruling get together in native elections final yr amid rising requires early nationwide elections. Authorities officers insist that the courts function independently and reject claims that authorized actions in opposition to opposition figures are politically motivated.
“We face nice tyranny, however I would like you to know that I can’t be discouraged,” Imamoglu mentioned earlier within the day in a video submit on social media.
The backdrop
Erdogan, a populist with more and more authoritarian tendencies, has led Turkey as prime minister or president for greater than 20 years and is now the longest-serving chief within the Turkish republic’s historical past. His present time period runs till 2028 however he has indicated he’d wish to serve longer — one thing he might obtain with the assistance of a pleasant parliament.
Imamoglu was arrested as police searched his residence, nevertheless it wasn’t instantly clear if something was confiscated. His spouse, Dilek Imamoglu, instructed the non-public Now tv that police arrived at their residence earlier than daybreak and that the mayor was taken round 7:30 a.m.
The Istanbul Inventory Change’s foremost index dropped by 7% over information of his arrest, triggering a short lived halt to buying and selling to stop panic promoting and stabilize the market. The Turkish lira misplaced some 7% of its worth in opposition to the greenback.
Anadolu, the information company, mentioned that Ekrem Imamoglu and several other others are suspected of extortion, cash laundering and irregularities regarding tenders and procurements, amongst different crimes.
Imamoglu can be suspected of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Employees’ Social gathering, or PKK, by allegedly forming an alliance with a Kurdish umbrella group for the Istanbul municipal elections, the report mentioned. The PKK has waged a decadeslong insurgency inside Turkey and is designated a terrorist group by Ankara, Washington and different allies.
Silencing the opposition
A day earlier, Istanbul College invalidated Imamoglu’s diploma, successfully disqualifying him from working within the subsequent presidential race — a college diploma is a requisite for working in elections underneath Turkish legislation.
The mayor’s get together — the primary opposition Republican Individuals’s Social gathering, or CHP — was to carry a main on Sunday the place Imamoglu was anticipated to be chosen for its candidate in future presidential elections.
With all of the arrests Wednesday, that vote was doubtful however get together chairman Ozgur Ozel instructed the opposition-aligned Halik TV channel that it could go forward as deliberate. Ozel mentioned Imamoglu’s detention was “an tried coup in opposition to our subsequent president.”
In a social media submit in English, Imamoglu mentioned: “The desire of the folks can’t be silenced via intimidation or illegal acts. I stand resolute, entrusting myself not solely to the 16 million residents of Istanbul however to the 86 million residents” of Turkey.
Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Social gathering condemned the detentions and known as for the instant launch of all taken into custody.
The daybreak raid on Imamoglu’s residence and his arrest was a “shame that won’t be forgotten for hundreds of years. This operation, which shatters religion in justice, is an try to revamp politics via the judiciary,” Tulay Hatimogullari, the get together’s co-chairwoman, wrote on X.
As he was being arrested, Ongun, the mayor’s aide, appealed for help on X, although he on the time didn’t seem to know that the mayor was additionally being taken into custody.
“They assume they’ll silence us and forestall us from defending and supporting Ekrem Imamoglu,” Ongun mentioned. “I entrust Ekrem Imamoglu to the Turkish nation. Shield, watch over and help him. They can’t be defeat the nation.”
Individually, police additionally detained a distinguished investigative journalist, Ismail Saymaz, for questioning, the opposition-aligned Halk TV reported.
In the meantime, internet-access advocacy group netblocks.org reported Wednesday that entry has been restricted in Turkey to in style social media platforms.
Authorized obstacles
In nullifying Imamoglu’s diploma, the college cited alleged irregularities in his 1990 switch from a personal college in northern Cyprus to its College of Enterprise Administration. Imamoglu mentioned he would problem the choice.
Imamoglu faces a number of lawsuits, together with allegations of attempting to affect a judicial professional investigating opposition-led municipalities. The instances might end in jail sentences and a political ban.
He’s additionally interesting a 2022 conviction of insulting members of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council, a case that would end in a political ban.
Imamoglu was elected mayor of Turkey’s largest metropolis in March 2019 in a historic blow to Erdogan and the president’s Justice and Growth Social gathering, which had managed Istanbul for a quarter-century. The get together pushed to void the municipal election leads to the town of 16 million, alleging irregularities.
The problem resulted in a repeat of the election a number of months later, which Imamoglu additionally received. The mayor retained his seat following native elections final yr, throughout which his get together made vital good points in opposition to Erdogan’s governing get together.
Devlet Bahceli, an Erdogan ally from the Nationalist Motion Social gathering, slammed the opposition on X, saying Wednesday that to “oppose the judiciary and legislation, even to debate it, is an invite to discord and violence” and including it was “essential to simply accept no matter choice was made by the courts.”
—Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Related Press writers Lorian Belanger in Bangkok and Cinar Kiper in Bodrum, Turkey, contributed to this report.
