Türkiye stops 37 on publication publications ‘provocative’ after the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul

ISTANBUL – The Turkish authorities arrested 37 people for sharing “provocative” content on social networks, the Interior Minister said Thursday, pressing Thursday with a Campaign In dissident voices that intensified with the Arrest of the mayor of IstanbulA possible challenger to President Rece Tayyip Erdogan.

Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu He was arrested after a dawn raid in his residence on Wednesday as part of the investigations on alleged corruption and terrorist links. Several other prominent figures were also arrested, including two mayors of the district.

The arrest of a popular opposition leader and Erdogan key rival deepened the concerns about democracy and caused protests in Istanbul and other places, despite a four -day prohibition of demonstrations in the city and road closures. On Thursday, university students in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, made peaceful demonstrations to protest the arrest.

It also caused a shock wave in the financial market, which caused temporary stops in trade on Wednesday to avoid panic sale.

Erdogan’s party rejects the accusations of interference

Critics see repression as an Erdogan effort to extend their rule more than two decades after significant losses of the ruling party in local elections last year. Government officials reject the claims that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that the courts operate independently.

Omer Celik, the spokesman of the ruling Justice and Development Party of Erdogan, disputed accusations of the opposition that the arrests were orchestrated by the government and urged respect for the judicial process.

“What a politician should do is follow the judicial process,” Celik told reporters. “None of us have information about the file content (criminal).”

He also rejected the accusation level by the CHP that the mayor’s arrest was equivalent to a “coup d’etat” that said: “The name of our party, our president can only be associated with democracy, on the opposite side of a coup d’etat.”

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that the authorities identified 261 social media accounts that shared provocative positions, related to the arrest of the mayor, which allegedly prompted public hatred or crime, including 62 who are administered by people with headquarters abroad. At least 37 of the alleged owners were arrested and the efforts to stop other suspects continued, he wrote on the social media platform X.

Imamoglu arrest occurred a few days before it was expected to be nominated as presidential candidate of the Republican Popular Party of the opposition in a primary school scheduled for Sunday. The party leader has said that primary will continue as planned.

Germany calls the arrest a bad signal

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed concern about the arrest of the mayor, saying that it was a “very bad sign” for Türkiye’s relations with the European Union.

Scholz said it was “depressing for democracy in Türkiye, but certainly also depressing for the relationship between Europe and Türkiye.”

“We can only ask that this end immediately and that the opposition and the government remain in competition with each other, and not the opposition that is taken to court,” he said.

Prosecutors accused Imamoglu of exploiting their position to obtain financial profits, including the inadequate allocation of government contracts.

In a separate investigation, prosecutors also accuse Imamogl of helping the illegal workers of Kurdistan, or PKK, by forming an alliance with Kurds groups for the municipal elections of Istanbul. The PKK, behind an insurgency of decades in Türkiye, a terrorist organization of Ankara, Washington and other allies is designated.

It was not clear when the authorities would begin to interrogate the mayor, who can be arrested without charges for up to four days. Analysts say that Imamoglu could be withdrawn from office and replaced by a “mayor of the Trust” if he is formally accused of bonds to the PKK.

Imamoglu faces other positions

Before his arrest, Imamoglu already faced multiple criminal cases that could result in prison sentences and a political prohibition. A 2022 sentence is also appealing for insulting the members of the Supreme Electoral Council of Türkiye, a case that could result in a political prohibition.

This week, a university He annulled his diplomaCiting alleged irregularities in its 1990 transfer of a private university in northern Chipre to its business faculty, a decision that Imamoglu said it would challenge. The decision effectively prevents it from running for president, since the position requires candidates to be university graduates.

Imamoglu was elected mayor of the largest city in Turkey in March 2019, a historic coup for Erdogan and the President’s Justice and Development Party, which had controlled Estanbul for a quarter of a century. Erdogan’s party pressed to cancel the results of the municipal elections in the city of 16 million, claiming irregularities.

The challenge resulted in a repetition of the elections a few months later, which Imamogl also won. The mayor held his seat after the local elections last year, during which his party obtained significant profits against the Rector of Erdogan.

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Fraser reported from Ankara, Türkiye. Geir Moulson contributed from Berlin.