Istanbul: Turkish opposition relies against Erdogan on the power of light

After renewed massive protests against the detention of the Istanbul Mayor and opposition politician Ekrem Imamoglu, the Turkish authorities have blocked its account in online service X. The account @krem_imamoglu was stopped in Turkey due to a legal request, it said on Thursday morning when looking for the account with almost ten million followers. The day before, tens of thousands of people in Istanbul took the street to support the most important domestic rivals of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The “center to combat disinformation” to the Turkish Presidential Office said that Imamoglus X-account was blocked because of a contribution from April that could be seen as a “public request to commit a crime”. In it, Imamoglu had sharply criticized the arrest of oppositional and called on the population, “not to mention and to raise their voice”.

The chairman of the Turkish Association for Freedom of Building, Yaman Akdeniz, described the blocking of Imamoglus Account as “arbitrary arrangement”. Hundreds of X accounts of closures have been affected since Imamoglus arrest, said Akdeniz of the AFP news agency. The online service had become an “extended arm of the Turkish law enforcement authorities”.

The lawyer Gönenc Gürkaynak said that he had appealed against the judicial order “at the request of X and in my capacity as an independent lawyer of X”. As a sign of solidarity, users of the online service replaced their profile picture with a photo imamoglus.

Imamoglu was arrested in March, and shortly afterwards, a court ordered custody of corruption allegations. Imamoglu, who is the largest domestic rival of President Erdogan, rejects the allegations. The arrest of the popular opposition politician triggered the largest wave of protests in Turkey since the so-called Gezi protests in 2013. Almost 2000 people have been arrested in the course of the protests, including many journalists.

In his last post before the blocking of his X-Konto, Imamoglu called for participation in a rally organized by his left-wing nationalist opposition party. Tens of thousands of people followed the call on Wednesday evening. The demonstration took place in front of the University of Istanbul, which Imamoglu revealed its conclusion shortly before it was arrested and thus installed the possibility of a presidential candidacy. “Our struggle is the struggle for democracy and freedom,” called CHP boss Özgur Özel at the rally. According to Özel, a petition for the release of Imamoglu and immediate new elections has now been signed by 14.8 million Turks.