ANKARA — Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, one of the strongest rivals of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a potential presidential contender, was detained on terrorism and corruption charges along with more than 100 others on Wednesday, drawing outcry from opposition voices and civil rights groups.
“The residence has been surrounded by hundreds of police officers,” Imamoglu said in a video he posted on Twitter around 7 a.m. local time.
“We are facing great oppression, but I want you to know that I will not give up. I entrust myself to my nation,” he added.
Among the detainees were two Istanbul district mayors from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), including Sisli Mayor Resul Emrah Sahan, and close aides of Imamoglu, according to a list released by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency.
The Istanbul Stock Exchange dropped by nearly 10% after the detentions, with trading in the market being halted several times. Meanwhile, the lira traded at around 38 to the US dollar as of Wednesday morning local time, up from 36.5 on Tuesday.
“Everything necessary for the healthy functioning of the markets is being done,” Turkey’s Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said on X.
To quell potential protests, the Istanbul governor’s office imposed a four-day ban on public demonstrations across the province, while internet watchdog NetBlocks reported significant slowdowns in access to social media platforms.
The detentions come just days before CHP’s primary, in which members are widely expected to elect Imamoglu as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2028 elections, in which he is seen as one of the strongest challengers to Erdogan.
On Tuesday, Istanbul University annulled Imamoglu’s college degree, potentially disqualifying him from running for president. A college degree is a constitutional requirement for candidacy in Turkey. The decision came following an investigation by the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office into allegations that the mayor’s 1990 transfer from a Turkish Cypriot college to Istanbul University’s business management department violated college transfer rules — a claim disputed by many legal experts.
Widespread outcry
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel condemned the detentions as a “coup” against democracy.
“Currently, there is a power in place to prevent the nation from determining the next president,” Ozel said on X.
“We are facing an attempted coup against our next president,” Ozel added in his post.
Other opposition parties and rights groups also condemned the move.
Tulay Hatimogullari, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), slammed the detentions as unacceptable.
“The arrest of the mayor of the largest city in this country in a dawn raid for political motives is a disgrace that will not be forgotten for hundreds of years,” she wrote on X.
“This operation, which shatters faith in justice, is the manipulation of politics through the judiciary,” she added.
Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey director for Human Rights Watch, said the detentions were a “flagrant abuse of the justice system and of police detention powers to stifle the lawful political activities of the opposition, profoundly undermining the democratic process and violating the right of Istanbul voters to their chosen representatives.”
Wednesday’s detentions signal a chilling escalation in Turkey’s crackdown on dissent in recent months, which has seen the imprisonment of several prominent figures from different political backgrounds, including far-right opposition leader Umit Ozdag and prominent talent manager Ayse Barim.
“The detentions today are the culmination of a pattern of politically motivated investigations and detentions over the past five months initiated by the Istanbul chief prosecutor, mostly relying on bogus terrorism accusations, against dozens of politicians, activists, and journalists,” Sinclair-Webb told Al-Monitor.
Separately, prominent journalist Ismail Saymaz was also detained on Wednesday over his alleged involvement in 2013 mass protests against Erdogan’s government, according to the opposition aligned Halk TV.
The European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur, Nacho Sanchez Amor, also expressed concern saying the move sped up Turkey’s authoritarian drift.
“Following with huge concern the news on Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu’s detention among 100 people along with a 4-day ban on demonstrations,” he wrote on X.
“Full speed towards a complete authoritarian state,” he added.
International bodies, including the European Union, have long criticized the erosion of judicial independence and rising authoritarianism in Turkey, particularly since the country transitioned to an executive presidential system under Erdogan in 2018.
This is a developing story.