Nearly 1 900 people have been detained in Turkey during protests that began amid the arrest of opposition Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
This was stated by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, Reuters reports.
Yerlikaya said 1 879 people had been detained since the protests began last Wednesday, with 260 of them being remanded in custody. He added that 489 people had been released and the cases of 662 others were still pending. 150 police officers were injured during the protests.
Demonstrators block Ataturk Boulevard in Ankara, March 22, 2025
Getty Images / «Babel'»
Human rights groups have called on Turkey to investigate the excessive use of force by police in dispersing crowds and have urged the government to allow the demonstrations, which have been largely peaceful.
Students demonstrate in Istanbulʼs Besiktas district in support of Ekrem Imamoglu, March 24, 2025.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
Responding to a question about the detention and subsequent release of seven local journalists who covered the demonstrations in Istanbul, including an Agence France Presse (AFP) photojournalist, Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said that there is a misconception about Turkeyʼs attitude towards journalists and that it does not imprison reporters.
Who is Ekrem Imamoglu?
Imamoglu is one of the leaders of the opposition Republican Peopleʼs Party. He was considered the main rival of the incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the next presidential election in 2028. However, on March 18, Imamogluʼs higher education diploma was canceled — allegedly due to technical violations. Having a diploma is a mandatory condition for running in the presidential election.
Imamoglu has been elected mayor of Istanbul twice, in 2019 and 2023, defeating candidates from Recep Tayyip Erdoganʼs ruling conservative Justice and Development Party. The Turkish president also began his political career as mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s and has repeatedly said: "Whoever owns Istanbul owns all of Turkey."
On March 19, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was detained, as were several dozen of his associates. And on March 23, the court ruled to keep him in custody until the end of the trial. Imamoglu is accused of bribery and aiding a terrorist organization — the Kurdistan Workersʼ Party, which is banned in Turkey. The Istanbul prosecutorʼs office also stated that Imamoglu was allegedly the "leader of a criminal group" and engaged in extortion, fraud and bribery.
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