The main rival to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on Sunday arrested and charged with corruption.
Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, is expected to be selected as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) 2028 presidential candidate in a ballot on Sunday.
He denies the allegations and says they are politically motivated. “I will never bow,” he wrote on X before he was remanded in custody.
His detention sparked some of Turkey’s largest protests in more than a decade. Erdogan has condemned the demonstrations and accused the CHP of trying to “disturb the peace and polarise our people.”
Demonstrations have taken place in Turkey for four nights running
Imamoglu was one of more than 100 people, including other politicians, journalists and businessmen, detained as part of an investigation on Wednesday, triggering four consecutive nights of demonstrations.
On Sunday, he was formally arrested and charged with “establishing and managing a criminal organisation, taking bribes, extortion, unlawfully recording personal data and rigging a tender.”
He was remanded in custody pending trial. Local media reported he had been taken to Marmara Prison in Silivri.
In social media posts, Imamoglu criticised his arrest as a “black stain on our democracy”, and said judicial procedure was not being followed.
He urged people across the country to join protests and to take part in Sunday’s vote. Imamoglu is the only person running in the CHP’s presidential candidate selection.
Prosecutors want to charge him with “aiding an armed terrorist organisation”, but the Turkish court said it was “not deemed necessary at this stage” to do so.
The CHP had a de facto alliance with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) in connection with last year’s local elections.
DEM has been accused of being affiliated with the PKK – or Kurdistan Workers’ Party – which it denies.
The PKK declared a ceasefire early this month, after waging an insurgency against Turkey for more than 40 years. It is proscribed as a terrorist group in Turkey, the EU, UK and US.
Imamoglu is seen as one of Erdogan’s most formidable political rivals.
The arrest does not prevent his candidacy and election as president. However, if he is convicted of any of the charges against him he would not be able to run.
A day before his arrest, Istanbul University announced it was revoking Imamoglu’s degree due to alleged irregularities, a measure – which if upheld – would put his ability to run as president into doubt.
According to the Turkish constitution, presidents must have completed higher education to hold office.
Imamoglu’s lawyers said they would appeal the decision to revoke his degree to the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
The Supreme Election Council will decide whether Imamoglu is qualified to be a candidate.
Erdogan has held office for the past 22 years, as both prime minister and president of Turkey.
However, due to term limits, he cannot run for office again in 2028 unless he changes the constitution.
Opposition figures say the arrests are politically motivated. But the Ministry of Justice has criticised those who link Erdogan to the arrests, and insist on its judicial independence.
Thousands have taken to the streets across Turkey in largely peaceful demonstrations.
Authorities tried to stifle demonstrations with a four-day ban on all gatherings in Istanbul, which was extended to Ankara and Izmir as the protests spread.
Riot police have repeatedly clashed with protesters and could be seen firing pepper gas and water cannons towards crowds of demonstrators.
Turkish authorities said 343 people were arrested on Friday night.
On Saturday, tear gas hung in the air outside the mayor’s office in Istanbul before the protests had even properly begun.
As the crowds had grown throughout the evening, it became hard to breathe as round after round was fired to disperse demonstrators.
Chanting “rights, law, justice”, people of all ages defied the government ban to protest against what they see as an unlawful detention.
One young woman, dressed in black and wearing a face mask, told the BBC she was not protesting for political reasons or because she supported the opposition, but instead to defend democracy.
“I’m here for justice, I’m here for liberty. We’re free people and Turkish people cannot accept this. This is against our behaviour and culture.”
Another woman, who had brought her 11-year-old son to the protests, said she wanted to include him because she is worried about his future.
“It’s getting harder to live in Turkey day by day, we can’t control our lives, we can’t choose who we want and there is no real justice here,” she said.
