Thousands of people gathered outside İstanbul City Hall on Wednesday to mark one year since the detention of Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in a corruption investigation widely seen by critics as politically motivated and aimed at sidelining the strongest rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Waving Turkish flags, the crowd, which included many university students, chanted “President İmamoğlu” in a show of support for the presidential candidate of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
“We will win by resisting,” protesters shouted.
Police tightened security around City Hall, known in Turkish as Saraçhane, where major clashes broke out a year ago when officers moved to disperse protests following İmamoğlu’s detention.
İmamoğlu was detained on March 19, 2025, just days before he was to be formally named the CHP’s candidate for Turkey’s next presidential election, due by mid-2028.
His subsequent arrest was denounced by critics as an attempt to weaken one of the few politicians seen as capable of defeating Erdoğan at the ballot box.
İmamoğlu, 54, has remained in prison since then and faces a growing number of cases. The largest of them went to trial on March 9. Prosecutors are seeking a combined prison sentence of 2,430 years.
“It’s all political,” Yasemen Ünlü, 63, told Agence France-Presse as she stood behind iron barriers despite the cold weather.
“He’s been in jail for a year for nothing. İmamoğlu was a presidential candidate and one step ahead. There’s nothing that holds up,” she said.
After his arrest, large crowds took to the streets every day, defying protest bans in İstanbul and other major cities. The biggest gatherings came after dark and often ended in running clashes with riot police.
The demonstrations triggered a security crackdown in which about 2,000 people were detained, including students, journalists and lawyers.
Although the protests later faded, the CHP continued holding rallies across Turkey, helping the party improve its standing in opinion polls.
Since the CHP’s strong victory in the March 2024 local elections against Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the party has been hit by a broad legal crackdown. Fifteen CHP mayors are currently in jail.
Analysts say İmamoğlu is unlikely to be able to run in the next presidential election. Even if he were cleared in the corruption case, another lawsuit challenges the validity of his university degree, which is required under Turkey’s constitution for presidential candidates.
“I don’t think there’s any hope,” protester Erkan Acar said.
“He is the biggest rival to Erdoğan. Of course they will hold him back and keep him isolated,” said Acar, a 39-year-old public employee.
“We’ll use every opportunity we get. We chose him. We cannot just leave him in prison like that.”
If İmamoğlu is barred from running, political observers expect CHP leader Özgür Özel to emerge as the likely opposition candidate in the presidential race.
© Agence France-Presse