Turkish police on Wednesday arrested Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamo\u011flu, a key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, state-run media reported, as part of an investigation into alleged corruption and terror links.<\/p>\n
The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that prosecutors also issued warrants for 100 other people. Authorities closed several roads around Istanbul and banned demonstrations in the city for four days in an apparent effort to prevent protests following the arrest.<\/p>\n
Imamo\u011flu posted a video on Wednesday morning apparently reacting to the move, with the caption \u201cA blow to the will of the nation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Imamo\u011flu, 53, \u201cwas detained and is now at police headquarters\u201d a press aide told Agence France-Presse. The aide did not have permission to speak to the media so asked not to be named.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Netblocks internet observatory said Turkey had restricted access to multiple social media platforms including X, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.<\/p>\n
The main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) is scheduled to hold a primary election on 23 March, at which Imamo\u011flu was expected to be chosen as its presidential candidate. The next presidential vote is scheduled for 2028, but early elections are likely.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are facing great tyranny, but I want you to know that I will not be discouraged,\u201d Imamo\u011flu said earlier on Wednesday in a video message posted on social media. He accused the government of \u201cusurping the will\u201d of the people.<\/p>\n
CHP\u2019s chairman,\u00d6zg\u00fcr \u00d6zel, denounced Imamo\u011flu\u2019s detention as a \u201ccoup\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently, there is a power in place to prevent the nation from determining the next president,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are facing an attempted coup against our next president.\u201d<\/p>\n
The arrest followed a search of Imamo\u011flu\u2019s home on Tuesday, which came a day after a university invalidated his diploma, in effect disqualifying the popular opposition figure from running in the next presidential race. Having a university degree is a prerequisite for running in elections under Turkish law.<\/p>\n
Istanbul University nullified Imamo\u011flu\u2019s diploma, citing alleged irregularities in his 1990 transfer from a private university in northern Cyprus to its faculty of business administration. He called the university\u2019s decision \u201cillegal\u201d, insisting it does not have the authority to cancel the diploma. The university\u2019s move has been widely perceived as politically motivated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe days when those who made this decision will be held accountable before history and justice are near. The march of our people, who are thirsty for justice, law, and democracy, cannot be stopped,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n
He later also suggested the decision was made under pressure from Erdo\u011fan\u2019s government and raised concerns about the judiciary\u2019s independence. He said that he planned to challenge the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat will I do next? I will keep running like a lion. There\u2019s no stepping back, I\u2019ll run even harder,\u201d Imamo\u011flu said.<\/p>\n
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that detention orders were issued for 100 people, including journalists, business people and politicians, as part of the investigation. 79 of the 100 people were detained. The statement included the following statements:<\/p>\n
“A total of 100 suspects, including Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu, the leader of the criminal organization, Murat Ongun, Tuncay Y\u0131lmaz, Fatih Kele\u015f, Ertan Y\u0131ld\u0131z, and 95 suspects connected to these individuals, have been instructed to conduct simultaneous arrest, detention, search and seizure operations as of 06:15 on 19\/03\/2025 for the crimes of being a leader of a criminal organization, being a member of a criminal organization, bribery, qualified fraud, unlawful acquisition of personal data and rigging a tender.”<\/p>\n
In 2022, he was convicted of insulting members of Turkey\u2019s Supreme Electoral Council in a case that could result in a political ban. He is appealing against his conviction.<\/p>\n
He faces multiple other lawsuits, including allegations of trying to influence a judicial expert investigating opposition-led municipalities. The cases could result in prison sentences and a political ban.<\/p>\n
He was elected mayor of Turkey\u2019s largest city in March 2019 in a historic blow to Erdo\u011fan and the president\u2019s Justice and Development party, which had controlled Istanbul for a quarter-century. The party pushed to void the municipal election results in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities.<\/p>\n
The challenge resulted in a repeat of the election a few months later, which Imamo\u011flu also won. The mayor retained his seat following local elections last year, during which his party made significant gains against Erdo\u011fan\u2019s governing party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Turkish police on Wednesday arrested Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamo\u011flu, a key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, state-run media reported, as part of an investigation into alleged corruption and terror links. The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that prosecutors also issued warrants for 100 other people. Authorities closed several roads around Istanbul and banned demonstrations in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":80629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[171,188],"tags":[7856,78483,6745,79275],"class_list":["post-80628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","category-turkey-politics","tag-chp","tag-ekrem-imamoglu","tag-istanbul","tag-turkiye"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80628"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80631,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80628\/revisions\/80631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}