Thousands rally in Istanbul to mark year since mayor’s arrest

2026-03-18 - 21:30

Ozgur Ozel of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) speaks during a protest at Sarachane Square in Istanbul. (AFP pic) ISTANBUL: Thousands of people gathered outside Istanbul City Hall Wednesday to mark one year since the arrest of the city’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu in a graft probe widely seen as a politically motivated act against the key opponent of president recep Tayyip Erdogan. Waving Turkish flags, crowds including university students chanted “President Imamoglu”, in a show of support for the opposition CHP’s candidate for the next presidential vote. “We will win by resisting”, they shouted. Police heightened security around City Hall, which saw major clashes when police cracked down on protests a year ago. The mayor was arrested on March 19, 2025 just days before he was to be formally named candidate for the Republican People’s Party (CHP) in Turkey’s next presidential elections, due by mid-2028. The unexpected arrest was denounced by critics as a bid to hobble the chances of one of the few politicians seen as capable of beating Erdogan at the ballot box. Imamoglu, 54, has remained behind bars at Silivri prison near Istanbul, facing a growing array of cases, the biggest of which went to trial on March 9. Prosecutors are seeking to have him jailed for 2,430 years. The trial away from public eyes “is the product of a corrupt mindset that is mortally afraid of free and fair elections and has taken refuge behind the judiciary to eliminate its political rival,” said a text written by Imamoglu that was read out at the rally. “The aim of this case is not to seek the truth or to ensure justice, but to escape the anxiety of electoral defeat,” he said. “It’s all political,” Yasemen Unlu, 63, told AFP as she stood behind the iron barriers despite the cold weather. “He’s been in jail for a year in vain. Imamoglu was a presidential candidate and one step ahead. There’s nothing that holds up,” she said. ‘We chose him’ After the arrest vast crowds hit the streets daily, defying a protest ban in Istanbul and other big cities, with the biggest crowds gathering after dark, sparking running battles with riot police. The rallies sparked a crackdown by the security forces, who arrested around 2,000 people, among them students, journalists and lawyers. Although the protests eventually tailed off, the CHP continued to hold rallies across Turkey, boosting the party’s standing in the polls. Since the CHP won a resounding victory in March 2024 local elections against Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), it has faced a sweeping legal crackdown. Fifteen of its mayors are behind bars. Analysts say Imamoglu almost certainly will not be able to contest the next election. Even if he was cleared of graft charges, another lawsuit aims to challenge the validity of his university degree — a constitutional requirement for candidates in Turkey. “I don’t think there’s any hope,” Erkan Acar, one of the protesters, said. “He is the biggest rival against Erdogan. They will hold him back, of course, and keep him isolated,” the 39-year-old public employee said. “We’ll use every opportunity we get. We chose him. We cannot just leave him in prison like that.” Should Imamoglu be barred, political observers expect CHP leader Ozgur Ozel to emerge as the likely candidate for the presidential race. Ozel, who addressed the rally alongside Imamoglu’s wife Dilek Kaya, condemned the “civil coup that has been in place for 365 days”. Greeting the crowds at City Hall for “rewriting the history of democracy,” Ozel said: “Who said we stayed silent? Who said we gave up and surrendered? Here are the ones who did not surrender, here are the ones who resist.”