Turkey’s government warned on Friday against “illegal” calls from the main opposition for street protests over the detention of Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, after thousands demonstrated across the country in the last two days.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 53 people were detained and 16 police officers were injured in protests that began at university campuses, Istanbul municipal headquarters and elsewhere on Thursday, triggering scattered clashes.
Imamoglu, who is President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival and leads him in some polls, was detained on Wednesday facing charges including graft and aiding a terrorist group.
The mayor’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has condemned the move as politically-motivated and urged people to lawfully demonstrate, while European leaders have criticised the detention as democratic backsliding.
Yerlikaya and the justice minister, Yilmaz Tunc, criticised the calls for action from CHP leader Ozgur Ozel as “irresponsible” amid a four-day ban on public gatherings.
“Gathering and marching in protest are fundamental rights. But calling to the streets over an ongoing legal investigation is illegal and unacceptable,” Tunc said on X early on Friday.
Tunc said the courtroom was the place to respond to any legal process and called for calm, adding that the “independent and unbiased judiciary” was evaluating the case. He has warned against linking Erdogan to Imamoglu’s arrest.
Demonstrations took place Thursday in Ankara, Izmir and Istanbul, as well as other provinces across the country, with police erecting barricades on several main streets.
‘Theatrics’
Erdogan dismissed the opposition’s criticism as “theatrics” and “slogans” that distract from its internal mistakes.
Speaking at the main Istanbul rally late Thursday, the CHP’s Ozel responded: “Hey Erdogan, you’re most scared of the streets. We are now on the streets, in squares. Continue to be afraid.”
“While you keep the one we elected in custody, we will not sit at home,” he said before thousands of supporters.
