Turkey
Incendiary bomb chaos in Turkey: "You will be defeated"
Emil Forsberg
Updated 23.31 | Published 22.53
At the same time, the wife of the imprisoned CHP leader Ekrem Imamoglu sends a greeting to Erdogan.
- You will be defeated, says Dilek Imamoglu in front of the crowd.
For the fifth day in a row, Turks are protesting against the imprisonment of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's political rival Ekrem Imamoglu.
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets, despite the government's ban on demonstrations.
There they have been met with water cannons and tear gas.
Hundreds of thousands of people are protesting in Turkey – and are facing fierce resistance
from the police.
1 / 2Photo: Francisco Seco/AP
On Sunday evening, protesters in Saraçane attacked the police with firebombs and bottles.
51 people were reportedly arrested and taken to the Marmara prison.
Dilek Imamoglu steps up on stage.
Wife takes the microphone
From the stage in Saraçane Square in Istanbul, the wife of the corruption accused Ekrem Imamoglu, Dilek Imamoglu, took the microphone:- What haven't they done to make Ekrem appear guilty? Let's remember 6 years ago, when the state institutions understood that Ekrem would win and stopped counting the votes, she says and continues:
- From that day until today, those who rule the country are afraid of Ekrem and those who love him. They think they can win by keeping him out. But they are wrong. Young people and women across Turkey are resisting.
"Will win"
Then she sends a pass to Erdogan:– Ekrem Imamoglu has beaten you four times. He will win a fifth time even if he is not allowed to run as a candidate. He is the symbol of the entire country’s struggle for dignity. You will be defeated.
New protests in support of arrested mayor
TT
Updated 21.25 | Published 01.51
Riot police use pepper spray against demonstrators in Istanbul on Sunday evening. 1 / 3Photo: Francisco Seco/AP/TT
TT
Updated 21.25 | Published 01.51
Istanbul's mayor, opposition politician Ekrem Imamoglu, is suspended. The announcement comes after Imamoglu was imprisoned.
- It shows how big a threat Imamoglu is to President Erdogan, says Turkey expert Jenny White.
New large demonstrations characterize central Istanbul on Sunday evening.
Despite the authorities closing bridges and streets to prevent demonstrators from reaching the protests, thousands have gathered at the city hall, where they were met by riot police.
The new demonstrations are being held after a court ruled that the popular mayor Imamoglu should be indicted and imprisoned pending trial.
Just hours after that announcement, the Interior Ministry announced that Imamoglu would be suspended from the mayorship of Turkey's largest city.
"I will not bow down," Imamoglu had written on X at the time.
"What the government is doing is installing their own people as mayors. They have been doing this for years with Kurdish mayors," she says.
Opinion polls show that Imamoglu would defeat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the next election, and the arrest has been criticized as a set-up to remove him before the election. Government officials deny this and say that the judiciary is acting independently.
That has not stopped hundreds of thousands from taking to the streets in large-scale protests - despite the authorities having issued a ban on demonstrations. Sunday's protests come after four days of similar scenes in Istanbul and several other places in Turkey.
In order to curb the protests, the authorities have asked the X platform to close over 700 accounts. The platform says that the request has not been met. On Saturday, however, Politico reported that the accounts of "several people" in Turkey have been closed.
Although the party only has around 1.8 million members, 15 million people are reported to have voted, according to the CHP "in solidarity" with Imamoglu.
The party had opened the election to all Turkish citizens, not just party members, with the hope of getting even greater support for the arrested mayor.
- I am quite convinced that most people will vote for Imamoglu. It creates a strange situation when a person who is in prison is likely to be elected as a presidential candidate, says Jenny White.
FACTS
The CHP, today the largest opposition party, traditionally describes itself as secular and social democratic.
The military has intervened in politics several times, both removing and appointing leaders. Throughout the 1990s, the country was governed by short-lived coalition governments.
In 2001, the current president and former mayor of Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, founded the conservative Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP). It has ruled the country since 2002. Erdogan was prime minister between 2003 and 2014, when he took over the presidency from Abdullah Gül.
Democracy has been gradually dismantled as the president has taken control of, or closed down, media outlets critical of the regime. With a constitutional amendment in 2017 and further legislative amendments and decrees after the 2018 re-election, Erdogan has reshaped the state apparatus in a way that essentially means that parliamentarism has been replaced by presidential rule. At the same time, Erdogan has given Islam an increasingly prominent place in politics.
- It shows how big a threat Imamoglu is to President Erdogan, says Turkey expert Jenny White.
New large demonstrations characterize central Istanbul on Sunday evening.
Despite the authorities closing bridges and streets to prevent demonstrators from reaching the protests, thousands have gathered at the city hall, where they were met by riot police.
The new demonstrations are being held after a court ruled that the popular mayor Imamoglu should be indicted and imprisoned pending trial.
Just hours after that announcement, the Interior Ministry announced that Imamoglu would be suspended from the mayorship of Turkey's largest city.
"I will not bow down," Imamoglu had written on X at the time.
Not surprised
Jenny White, a professor at the Institute for Turkish Studies at Stockholm University, is not exactly surprised by the news that Ekrem Imamoglu is being suspended as mayor."What the government is doing is installing their own people as mayors. They have been doing this for years with Kurdish mayors," she says.
Opinion polls show that Imamoglu would defeat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the next election, and the arrest has been criticized as a set-up to remove him before the election. Government officials deny this and say that the judiciary is acting independently.
That has not stopped hundreds of thousands from taking to the streets in large-scale protests - despite the authorities having issued a ban on demonstrations. Sunday's protests come after four days of similar scenes in Istanbul and several other places in Turkey.
In order to curb the protests, the authorities have asked the X platform to close over 700 accounts. The platform says that the request has not been met. On Saturday, however, Politico reported that the accounts of "several people" in Turkey have been closed.
Presidential election
On Sunday, Imamoglu's party CHP held primary elections to nominate a presidential candidate, a vote that Imamoglu is predicted to win.Although the party only has around 1.8 million members, 15 million people are reported to have voted, according to the CHP "in solidarity" with Imamoglu.
The party had opened the election to all Turkish citizens, not just party members, with the hope of getting even greater support for the arrested mayor.
- I am quite convinced that most people will vote for Imamoglu. It creates a strange situation when a person who is in prison is likely to be elected as a presidential candidate, says Jenny White.
FACTS
Turkey and its politics
The CHP, today the largest opposition party, traditionally describes itself as secular and social democratic.
The military has intervened in politics several times, both removing and appointing leaders. Throughout the 1990s, the country was governed by short-lived coalition governments.
In 2001, the current president and former mayor of Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, founded the conservative Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP). It has ruled the country since 2002. Erdogan was prime minister between 2003 and 2014, when he took over the presidency from Abdullah Gül.
Democracy has been gradually dismantled as the president has taken control of, or closed down, media outlets critical of the regime. With a constitutional amendment in 2017 and further legislative amendments and decrees after the 2018 re-election, Erdogan has reshaped the state apparatus in a way that essentially means that parliamentarism has been replaced by presidential rule. At the same time, Erdogan has given Islam an increasingly prominent place in politics.
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