Tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in growing protests across Turkey, after the main rival to the country’s president was arrested and charged with corruption in a move that has been widely decried as politically motivated.
Ekrem Imamoglu is seen as the main political challenger to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and was nominated as the presidential candidate for the main opposition party the Republican People’s Party (CHP) for elections in 2028 despite his arrest.
Mr Imamoglu was elected mayor of Turkey’s largest city in March 2019, in a major blow to Mr Erdogan and the president’s governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), which had controlled Istanbul for a quarter of a century. Mr Erdogan’s party pushed to void the municipal election results in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities. The challenge resulted in a repeat of the election a few months later, which Mr Imamoglu also won.
The mayor retained his seat following local elections last year, during which the CHP made significant gains against the AKP.
His detention has sparked the largest wave of street demonstrations in Turkey in more than a decade, and deepened concerns over democracy and the rule of law in the country, with people taking to the streets for a sixth day straight on Monday.
Here is what we know about the protests so far.
What is happening in Turkey?
Turkey’s largest cities have been rocked by protests for nearly a week as hundreds of thousands of protesters turned out in support of Mr Imamoglu.
The daily protests have escalated since they began on Wednesday after Mr Imamoglu was detained, with police deploying water cannon, teargas and pepper spray as well as firing plastic pellets at protesters in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Some of the people demonstrating hurled stones, fireworks and other missiles at riot police.
A total of 1,133 people have been detained. The interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said more than 100 police officers had been injured.
The Disk-Basin-Is union said that at least eight reporters and photojournalists had been detained in what it said was an “attack on press freedoms and the people’s right to learn the truth”.
The social media platform X said it was objecting to multiple court orders from Turkish authorities to block more than 700 accounts, including of news organisations, journalists and political figures in Turkey.
What are the protests about?
The protests were sparked when Mr Imamoglu, the current mayor of Istanbul, was detained on Wednesday on suspicion of corruption.
On Sunday, as he received CHP’s official nomination to run for president, Mr Imamoglu was formally arrested on corruption charges and jailed pending trial.
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said: “Imamoglu is on the one hand in prison and on the other hand on the way to the presidency.”
Mr Imamoglu was jailed on suspicion of running a criminal organisation, accepting bribes, extortion, illegally recording personal data, and bid-rigging. A request for him to be imprisoned on terror-related charges was denied.
The mayor labelled all the claims “unimaginable accusations and slanders”, according to Sky News.
Following the court’s ruling, Mr Imamoglu was transferred to Silivri prison, west of Istanbul.
A further 47 people were jailed pending trial alongside Mr Imamoglu, including two district mayors from Istanbul. One of those mayors was replaced with a government appointee.
A further 44 suspects were released under judicial control.
What have authorities said?
Mr Imamoglu’s imprisonment is widely regarded as a political move, designed to remove a major challenger to Mr Erdogan from the next presidential race.
Government officials strongly reject the accusations and insist that Turkey’s courts operate independently.
Turkey’s next presidential election must be held by 7 May 2028, and under the current constitution, Mr Erdogan cannot run for another term once his current term in office is finished.
Mr Erdogan has been president since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) won power in 2003.
Mr Erdogan claimed on Monday that the protests over the jailing of Istanbul's mayor were “evil” and had become a "movement of violence" and that the main opposition party would be held accountable for injured police officers and damage to property.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Mr Erdogan said the CHP should stop "provoking" citizens.
"As a nation, we followed with surprise the events that emerged after the main opposition leader's call to take to the streets following an Istanbul-based corruption operation turned into a movement of violence," the 71-year-old president said.
"The main opposition is responsible for our [injured] police officers, the broken windows of our shopkeepers and the damaged public property. They will be held accountable for all this, politically in parliament and legally by the judiciary."
What legal battles has Imamoglu already faced?
Mr Imamoglu’s political battle began in 2019, when he spearheaded a breakthrough opposition victory after years in the doldrums. He won the Istanbul municipal election in March that year, only for authorities to annul the result in May on the basis of technicalities such as unsigned results documents and unauthorised ballot-box officials.
The legal threats began in June 2019, just before the rerun vote, when Mr Erdogan said he would face consequences for allegedly insulting the governor of the Black Sea province Ordu while campaigning there. Despite that, Mr Imamoglu prevailed decisively in the rerun, taking 54 per cent of the vote.
Legal threats grew more serious in 2021 when prosecutors sought a four-year prison sentence for Mr Imamoglu on a charge of insulting election officials, based on him calling them “idiots” in a speech just after the March 2019 election was annulled.
The following year, a court sentenced him to two years and seven months in prison in the insult trial, triggering protests attended by thousands in support of the mayor.
In the last two years, the legal onslaught has accelerated. In June 2023, a court began hearing a case against Mr Imamoglu in a tender-rigging case, related to his time as mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikduzu district between 2014 and 2019.
Late last year, Mr Imamoglu and numerous other opposition officials were hit by a widespread legal crackdown that resulted in some losing their elected positions.
Early this year he denied charges of attempting to influence the judiciary, following his criticism of legal cases against opposition-run municipalities.
In February, prosecutors issued a third indictment against Mr Imamoglu for remarks criticising the city’s prosecutor, seeking to jail him for seven years for insulting a public official.
Then came the latest detention. Mr Imamoglu denies all of the allegations against him.
Is Turkey safe to visit?
The Foreign Office has warnings in place about travelling to Turkey, and advises against all travel to within 10km (six miles) of the border with Syria “due to fighting and a heightened risk of terrorism”.
Broadly, the Foreign Office does not advise against travel to the rest of Turkey, but it has issued warnings about counterfeit alcohol products, saying there has been a rise in the number of deaths and serious illness cause by drinking illegally produced spirits, particularly in Ankara and Istanbul.
The Foreign Office also pointed out that there has been a recent spate of terror attacks, and noted that demonstrations that happen in cities can occasionally become violent.
“Police have used teargas and water cannon to disperse protests,” the department said. “Avoid all demonstrations and leave the area if one develops. Local transport routes may be disrupted.”
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report
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