Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
On March 23, Ekrem Imamoglu, Mayor of Istanbul, was sent to prison awaiting trial on terrorism and corruption. He had been arrested on March 19 at his home. Before the arrest, he had answered questions at the prosecutor's office concerning his alleged relationship with the PKK, an internationally recognized terror group who have killed 30,000 people over three decades of attacks. He is also accused of various corrupt abuses of his office.
On March 22, Imamoglu posted on his X account: "There is no salvation alone; either all of us together or none of us."
The accusations and arrest came just days ahead of a scheduled Republican People's Party's (CHP) party primary where Imamoglu was to be nominated as the party's candidate for the next Presidential elections slated for 2028. Although President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held office for over 20 years, and the current constitution would prevent him from running again, he had voiced plans to change the constitution so that he could run again.
Pollsters and political commentators in Turkey have said that if the election were held now, Imamoglu would beat Erdogan. There has been speculation that an early election might be called for, and many feel certain that Imamoglu's arrest and subsequent imprisonment are politically motivated and the charges are baseless.
Links to the PKK are political suicide in Turkey. The Kurdish separatist terror group does have supporters, but the Mayor of Istanbul is not one of them.
For the last four nights, Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Konya, and several other locations have seen large street protests in support of Imamoglu, and in condemnation of politically motivated arrests. The government closed streets on Wednesday, banned demonstrations, and cut off the internet to prevent activists from coordinating protests and locations. Regardless of those measures, the Turkish people took to the streets in defiance and support of the rule of law and democracy.
On March 22, 343 people were arrested in massive protests ahead of the court decision early Sunday morning.
On March 22, Erdogan said, "The days of going out into the streets, taking left-wing organizations, extremists, and vandals with you... are now behind us."
The Turkish police used pepper spray, water cannons, tear gas, batons, barricades, and rubber bullets to control the protesters, many of whom were young people concerned about their future.
Fahrettin Altun, Erdogan's Director of Communications, criticized the CHP on March 22, posting on X, "Turkiye will not fall for this game, will not surrender to the streets, and the democratic legal order will be protected at all costs.
"All forms of violence are bad. Democracy is always our compass," Altun concluded.
X, Elon Musk's social media platform, has suspended accounts belonging to the opposition in Turkey. Although Musk said he bought X to restore free speech, his platform has acquiesced to Turkish requests to suspend accounts and ban content.
The majority of the suspended accounts were university activist accounts. The street protests have been observed to be overwhelmingly the youth of Turkey, with many asking for the President to resign and chanting, "Rights, law, justice".
The Interior Ministry said coordinated action between cyber and security authorities led to the arrest of 54 suspects related to social media accounts. Since 2022, Turkish social media law has given the government vast power to suppress content.
According to the 2022 Council of Europe report, Turkey remains the leader in the number of prisoners in Europe.
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