A Day of Demonstrations by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Istanbul, a Day After the PKK Instability

There were multiple criminal cases that could result in prison sentences and a political ban before he was arrested. He had been imprisoned for insult to members of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council.

Police questioned Imamoglu for around five hours on Saturday as part of an investigation into allegations of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the Cumhuriyet newspaper reported. He was questioned over the corruption accusations for a day and a half. The mayor refused to accept all charges.

barricades were used on local roads to prevent access to the courthouse. Police officers and a large number of water cannon trucks were deployed. Still, hundreds gathered in front of the building shouting: “Rights, law, justice!”

Others gathered outside the Istanbul city hall or took to the streets to denounce the mayor’s resignation for a fourth night of nationwide protests, in the largest wave of street demonstrations in Turkey in more than a decade.

Police in Istanbul used pepper spray, tear gas, and rubber bullets to push back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a barricade to reach the city’s historic aqueduct. Police also dispersed groups that had rallied outside of the city hall for a third night running, after the opposition Republican People’s Party leader, Ozgur Ozel, delivered a speech in support of the mayor.

The minister said that about 323 people were arrested during Saturday night protests. Earlier, he said: “There will be no tolerance for those who seek to violate societal order, threaten the people’s peace and security, and pursue chaos and provocation.”

Simultaneously, police broke up demonstrations in Ankara, the capital, as well as in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, resorting to forceful measures at times, according to television images. Thousands marched in several other cities calling on the government to resign.

The opposition party was accused of ties to corruption and terrorist organizations after the government said it wouldn’t tolerate street protests.

The Istanbul governor’s office announced it was expanding a ban on demonstrations until March 26 and imposed restrictions on the entry and exit of vehicles deemed to be transporting people “likely to participate in unlawful activities.”

Timing the election of Erdogan’s president, Omar Imamoglu, criticised as a “coup” by the judiciary, and the government of Turkey

The president accused the party of turning into an apparatus to exonerate some of the people who have become blinded by money.

His opposition Republican People’s Party began holding a primary election to endorse his candidacy even though he was arrested.

People can participate in a symbolic election that will take place through improvised ballot boxes across Turkey, according to the opposition party.

In a tweet posted shortly before his arrival at the courthouse, Imamoglu urged the public to safeguard the ballot boxes for Sunday’s primary, “Don’t forget: they are very afraid of you and your democratic right to vote.”

In an earlier message, Imamoglu described his arrest as a “coup” and accused the government of exploiting the judiciary and worsening the country’s troubled economy.

The Justice and Development Party, which had been in control of Istanbul for a quarter-century, lost its grip on the city due to Imamoglu’s election. The results of a municipal election in the city of 16 million were voided.

His diplomas were nullified by a university earlier this week because of alleged corruption from his time at a private university in northern Cyprus. The decision effectively bars him from running for president, since the position requires candidates to be university graduates. Imamoglu was going to challenge the decision.

The arrest of the Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu in a Turkish high-density environment has not been politically motivated

Cagaptay said the international environment — where the European Union appears keen to maintain Turkey’s favor amid security threats from Russia, and the United States is unconcerned by other countries’ internal affairs — allows Erdogan to proceed without fear of international scrutiny.

With the arrest of Imamoglu, the director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said the president was taking a tough position against his opponent.

“We deplore the decision to place Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu in detention, and demand his immediate release,” said Marc Cools who heads the grouping’s congress of local authorities.

“We learned from television pundits about the allegations that even lawyers did not have access to, showing how politically motivated this whole ordeal has been,” he said.

Mansur Yavas, a fellow member of the CHP, said they were embarrassed in the name of the legal system.

The party has also set up symbolic ballot boxes nationwide — called “solidarity boxes” — to allow people who are not party members to express their support to the mayor.

Turkey’s courts operate independently and government officials insist that legal actions against opposition figures are not politically motivated.

The mayor of Istanbul was arrested and jailed on Sunday, pending the outcome of a trial on corruption charges.