The head of Turkey’s main opposition party has told the BBC that protests will continue “in every city” until either early presidential elections are called, or the jailed mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, is released from prison.
Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the mayor’s Republican People’s Party (CHP), said the nationwide protests would include a very large demonstration this Saturday in Istanbul. That will open the party’s campaign to make Imamoglu the country’s next president in elections that are due in 2028, he said.
“In every city we go to, we will have the biggest rallies in their history,” Ozel declared.
“The belief in Ekrem Imamoglu and in democracy will make the protests bigger and stronger,” he told us at his party headquarters in Istanbul, as visitors, staff and advisors bustled in and out.
The opposition has brought huge crowds onto the streets – the biggest seen here in over a decade – since Imamoglu was arrested seven days ago.
Alongside the mass demonstrations, there have also been mass arrests – more than 1,400 people and counting, including seven Turkish journalists who were reporting on the protests.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has plenty of strong supporters, has condemned the demonstrations as “street terrorism” and accused protesters of attacking the police and damaging public property.
He said the opposition’s “show” would eventually fade.
Ozel spoke to the BBC fresh from a visit to Silivri Prison, a high-security campus on the outskirts of Istanbul where Imamoglu is being held.
“He is in solitary confinement, but he’s in good condition and has not been mistreated so far,” he told us.
Ozel said the corruption case against Istanbul’s mayor was “a scam designed to discredit him”.
As an example, he cited allegations that Imamoglu bought land cheaply years ago, and the low purchase price may have been a bribe. “The truth was that small payment was just the deposit for the land,” he said.
- Why are thousands of people protesting in Turkey?
- Protests are about far more than fate of Istanbul’s mayor
- Ekrem Imamoglu – Turkey’s presidential hopeful who is under arrest
Imamoglu denies all the charges against him, including “establishing a criminal organisation, taking bribes, extortion, and rigging a public tender”.
He says his arrest was a coup. Turkish officials say the courts here are independent. Human rights organisations strongly dispute that.
Ozel said Imamoglu was arrested for one simple reason – to prevent him becoming Turkey’s next president. Opinion polls suggest the mayor might be able to do that – if he’s not behind bars.
