Protests against Turkey's President Erdogan, arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, see hundreds arrested
Turkey has detained over 1,100 people — including 10 journalists reportedly arrested Monday morning — since mass protests were sparked on March 19 by the arrest of Istanbul's popular Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was emerging as a key rival and likely election challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Monday that 1,133 people had been detained for "illegal activities" amid the protests, which were banned by authorities last week.
Despite insistence from the government in Ankara that Imamoglu's arrest has nothing to do with his politics, the apparent crackdown on dissent has deepened concern both in Turkey and abroad about the erosion of democracy under Erdogan, who has led the country for more than 20 years.
What is happening in Turkey?
The Turkish journalists' organization MLSA reported the arrest of 10 journalists at their homes on Monday morning, including a photographer for the French news agency AFP. The organization said the 10 were detained "for covering the protests," most of them specifically for covering mass demonstrations that have been held daily outside City Hall.
"What is being done to members of the press and journalists is a matter of freedom. None of us can remain silent about this," the detained Istanbul mayor's wife, Dilek Kaya Imamoglu, said in a post on social media.
The mass arrests continued Sunday, despite the official ban, as Ekrem Imamoglu was jailed by a local court on corruption charges, pending a trial, in a move that his supporters have derided as "an attempt to further silence dissent" in the country. Imamoglu also faces charges of aiding terrorism, with authorities citing his contact with pro-Kurdish groups during local elections last year.
Since his detention, major cities including Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir have been rocked by protests that have drawn tens of thousands of people onto the streets, quickly becoming the largest unrest Turkey has seen since the Gezi Park protests in 2013.
Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse mostly young crowds over the weekend.
Imamoglu was detained just days before he was widely expected to win a primary election to become the presidential candidate of the main opposition Republican People's Party. He was among 100 people, including other politicians, journalists and businessmen, who were detained as part of an investigation on Wednesday.
He beat candidates from Erdogan's party in three previous local elections to hold the mayor's office. Erdogan started his political career as a mayor of Istanbul, a city of 16 million people that is often looked at politically and socially as a microcosm of Turkey.
In a post on social media, Imamoglu protested that his imprisonment was "not a judicial process" but "an extrajudicial punishment," calling on his supporters to "join the fight for [their] rights."
Officials from the Erdogan administration have said repeatedly that it is "wrong" to call the accusations against Imamoglu politically motivated, and Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc has emphasized "the independence of the judiciary" in Turkey.
Many of those who've met Imamoglu's call for peaceful protests have been university students and young people carrying Turkish flags and banners with defiant slogans denouncing Erdogan and the government.
One 26-year-old nurse, who didn't want to be identified and kept her face half covered with a scarf, said she joined the protest to "claim her future."
She called Imamoglu's imprisonment "a wakeup call," and said, "the people who are worried about their future are united here."
"We are not scared anymore," she said, despite her own concerns about potentially being tear gassed as she has asthma.
Another woman of the same age, who said she was currently unemployed, echoed the sentiments and said she was protesting not only to demand Imamoglu be released, but to assert "my own rights."
Others said it was economic concern drawing them onto the streets, including a retiree who said she could no longer make ends meet and that it was time for Erdogan to step down. She said despite being retired, she has to pick up odd jobs to look after her two children.
"My 17-year-old son has no hope for the future of this country," she said. "I am here for him."
Despite Imamoglu's incarceration, the primary in which he was running as the only contender to stand as the CHP's presidential candidate went ahead. In a statement, the CHP said the mayor had also received more than 13 million votes gathered in mock ballot boxes that were placed across Turkey as a symbolic protest against the government and a show of public support for him.
Even if Imamoglu is able to prove his innocence against the corruption and terrorism charges through Turkey's courts, he will face other obstacles in a bid to take the presidency from Erdogan. A day before his detention, Imamoglu's university diploma was annulled by Istanbul University, his alma mater. A university degree is a requirement to stand as a presidential candidate under Turkish law.
International reaction to Imamoglu's arrest in Turkey
European nations have bristled at the apparent crackdown on dissent in Turkey. The European Union, to which Turkey applied for membership more than two decades ago, warned that Ankara should demonstrate "a clear commitment to democratic norms." Turkey's bid has been stalled with the EU for at least the last nine years, with the bloc highlighting previous crackdowns on dissent and other concerns about freedoms and democratic institutions being eroded as hurdles to Ankara's membership.
Overnight, France's foreign ministry called Imamoglu's arrest and the mass arrests a "serious attack on democracy," while the governments of Germany and Greece also condemned the moves.
The Trump administration has said little about the protests since Imamoglu's arrest, calling it an "internal legal" matter for Turkey, but State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters on Friday that the U.S. government was following the events, "including the reported detention of the Istanbul mayor and a large number of municipal employees, journalists, and other individuals."
Bruce said the State Department would refer to Turkey's government "for comments on internal judicial matters" but added that it was important for Turkish authorities to "protect the freedoms and human rights of all of its citizens consistent with the country's constitution and in line with our shared values and democratic traditions."
