The Turkish flag of the wave of university students gathered in protest in Istanbul’s Besiktas district on March 20, 2025, detained against corrupt probes of Istanbul’s Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem Imamoguru.
Ozan Course | AFP | Getty Images
A Turkish court has imprisoned Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoguru on Sunday and tried on Graft charges, saying state media and other broadcasters are likely to spark the country’s biggest protest against President Tayyip Erdogan’s government for more than a decade.
The decision to send Erdogan’s major political rival, Imamoguru, to prison came after major opposition parties, European leaders and tens of thousands of protesters criticized the actions against him as political and undemocratic.
The court said Imamoguru, 54, and at least 20 people were jailed as part of a corruption investigation.
The court has decided to release the mayor under judicial control measures against another terrorist accusation, broadcasters Halk TV and Ahaber reported that the government could appoint the largest city in the country to appoint trustees.
Imamoguru, who leads Erdogan in several polls, has denied the accusations and called them “unimaginable accusations and slander.”
Others also voted to select Imamoguru as the candidate for the CHP for the upcoming presidential election, including the main opposition to the Erdogan ruling alliance, a member of the Republican Party (CHP) on Sunday.
The general election is not scheduled until 2028. However, if Erdogan, who led Turkey for 22 years, runs again, then the Congress must support the previous elections, as the president has reached his limits by that day.
CHP’s Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas also told reporters on Sunday that imprisoning Imamoguru is a dishonorable part of the judicial system.
The government denied the investigation was politically motivated and said the courts were independent. It warns against the protest, especially given the nationwide ban on street rallies that was extended for four more days on Saturday.
On Saturday, thousands gathered outside the Istanbul city building and the main courthouse, and hundreds of police were placed in both locations to use tear gas and pepper spray pellets to disperse protesters as crowds threw explosives and other objects.
Most demonstrations were peaceful, but protesters clashed with police in the West Coast of Izmir and the capital Ankara for three consecutive nights, with police firing water cannons at the crowd.
Turkish authorities have detained 323 people during protests against the investigation, Home Minister Ali Yarikaya said early on Sunday.
