By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-23 17:44:43 | Updated at 2025-04-04 19:28:20
1 week ago
A Turkish court on Sunday jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, pending trial on corruption charges, in a move likely to inflame the country’s biggest protests in more than a decade.
The decision to send Imamoglu to prison comes after the main opposition party, European leaders and tens of thousands of protesters criticised the actions against him as politicised and undemocratic.
As the courtroom developments unfolded, there were signs that the mayor’s troubles were galvanising opposition against Erdogan’s government, which has run Turkey for 22 years.
Thousands of Republican People’s Party (CHP) members and non-members streamed into polling stations nationwide to elect Imamoglu its candidate in a future presidential vote.
The non-member vote will be closely watched as an indicator of how much support the widely popular Imamoglu enjoys beyond the party faithful.
Imamoglu has denied the charges he faces as “unimaginable accusations and slanders” and called for nationwide protests on Sunday. “We will rip away this coup, this dark stain on our democracy, all together,” he said.
