The Turkish opposition politician Ekrem İmamoğlu has been “temporarily” discontinued as Mayor of Istanbul. This was announced by the Turkish Ministry of the Interior.
Previously, a Turkish court had ordered that İmamoğlu, opponent of state chief Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had to custody. The Istanbul public prosecutor had requested this.
İmamoğlu was arrested together with dozens of other people on Wednesday, a few days before his planned nomination as a presidential candidate of the largest opposition party CHP. The politician is blamed in two separate procedures in connection with terrorism and corruption. When it comes to deciding, the court pointed out that İmamoğlu must remain in prison until a negotiation – but the custody only refers to the corruption determination. Specifically, it is about suspicion of membership in a criminal association, extortion, bribery, fraud and manipulation of tender. The terrorist investigation is about accusation of supporting the forbidden Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK.
However, a number of people take part in the election of İmamoğlu as the presidential candidate of his party. In the morning, the broadcaster showed pictures of snakes in front of polling stations in cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Kahramanmaras and Adiyaman. The 1.7 million CHP party members are called for voting. Every other citizen can also vote on symbolic ballot boxes in solidarity with İmamoğlu. İmamoğlu is the only candidate that he is considered a promising competitor of the governing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a future election.
The official candidate is only İmamoğlu if the Turkish electoral authority YSK, who is considered a government -friendly, confirms its candidacy. If the terrorist investigation, for which it was arrested, among other things, have not been given up until then, the assumption of his candidacy is unlikely. In addition, the university degree was revoked this week. The decision is not yet final. A conclusion is a prerequisite for a presidential candidacy in Turkey.
As long as the investigation against İmamoğlu is ongoing, a temporary deputy is to be appointed by the CHP party. To this end, the Istanbul Parliament will come together and coordinate, said party leader Özgür Özel. The call is responsible for the governor of the province. The CHP has a majority there.
İmamoğlu condemned the investigation against him on the platform X and turned to his followers: “I call my people. With your support, we will first thwart this coup, and then we will continue to send those who let us experience this.”
Germany criticizes İmamoğlus
Sharp criticism of the detention of İmamoğlus also comes from the federal government. The procedure is a severe setback for democracy in Turkey, said a spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office on Sunday at the request of the Reuters news agency. “Political competition must not be conducted with courts and prisons. We expect the allegations to be cleared as quickly as possible transparently and there is a procedure based on the rule of law.” The same applies to allegations against arrested protesters. “Compliance with the rule of law and democratic principles remains a central component for our relationships with Turkey – at a bilateral level and for relationships between the European Union and Turkey.”
In Turkey for the fourth time in a row, people went on the street for the fourth time in a row. In the evening, demonstration marches started in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and other Turkish cities, as local media reported. Thousands of participants could be seen on pictures of the Anka news agency from a meeting in Istanbul.
From Istanbul and Ankara, the use of pepper spray against demonstrators was again reported. Already in the night of Saturday, thousands demonstrated in more than a dozen cities. According to the Turkish Ministry of the Interior, 343 people were arrested. The ministry said that they want to prevent a “disruption of public order”. “Chaos and provocations” would not be tolerated.
Turkish media supervision threatens channels with “untrue reporting” with punishments
The CHP from İmamoğlu called on the large races. In a speech, CHP chairman Özgür Özel said on Friday that around 300,000 people had gathered in Istanbul. During his speech, the police started pepper spray and water cannons to drive the crowd apart.
The Turkish media supervision threatened the media in the country in the event of “untrue reporting” with punishments and license withdrawal. “We are again asking the media not to rely on party and untrue reporting, but only to publish official information and explanations from the competent authorities,” the head of the institution, Ebubekir Şahin, wrote to X. Otherwise measures would be taken to “extend to long -term transmission bans and ultimately even to the license withdrawal”. According to reports, some broadcasters hired their live reporting from demonstrations in the country.
İmamoğlu was supposed to be the challenger of Erdoğan’s challenger in the upcoming presidential election this weekend; He is the most important political rival and lies in some surveys in front of him. The CHP calls the arrest politically motivated.
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