Protests against Erdogan: Political climate in Turkey continues to heat up

In Turkey, tens of thousands of people once again protested the detention of the Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu and asked President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resign. Despite the ban on demonstration, the sixth evening in a row in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities in the country took to the streets.

Since the beginning of the protests, more than 1,100 people have been arrested, including at least ten journalists and photographers. More than 120 police officers were injured. There are no official figures for injured protest participants. Erdogan described the mostly peaceful demonstrations as a “violent movement”.

Imamoglu is considered Erdogan’s most promising political challenger in the election scheduled for 2028 and was set up as a candidate by the largest opposition party. He was arrested on Wednesday with accusations of corruption and terrorism and was discontinued on Sunday as mayor of the metropolis of Istanbul. Imamoglu himself denies all allegations and accuses the government of wanting to politically want to investigate with the investigation.

In Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and other cities, people have been on the streets since Wednesday despite banning tens of thousands. Especially on Sunday evening there were violent clashes between emergency services and demonstrators. According to reports, the police reported water cannons and tear gas.

Chp boss wants to visit Imamoglu in prison

On Monday evening, too, tens of thousands of people – including many students – moved to the central ranking location in front of the city administration’s headquarters in a protest. They waved Turkish flags and called government -critical slogans. There were numerous riot police and water cannons on television pictures, but there were no reports about collisions at first.

CHP boss Özgür Özel praised the use of the demonstrators in a speech according to reports as “act of defiance against fascism”. He therefore announced that he will visit Imamoglu in the Silivri prison today. The CHP will work to ensure that Imamoglu will be released until the negotiation and its process will be broadcast live on the state television station.

Erdogan calls demonstrators “street terrorists”

Erdogan, on the other hand, made serious allegations against the demonstrators. Apparently the CHP does not disturb the “street terrorists” attack the police with stones, sticks and axes. The judiciary will take them into account.

The demonstrations of the past few days have been the largest in Turkey since the so-called Gezi protests in 2013. The largely peaceful protests were initially directed against a construction project in the Istanbul Gezi Park and later against the authoritarian policy of the then Prime Minister and today’s President Erdogan. The government spoke of an attempted coup and brutally killed the protests.