Outside Istanbul’s city hall on Wednesday night a mass of protesters gathered in the freezing air to defy a city-wide ban on gatherings. A banner bearing a portrait of the Istanbul mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, giving a speech alongside the words “sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation” covered part of the facade of his now vacant office.
In dawn raids that morning police had detained İmamoğlu, the only contender seen as capable of defeating Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in presidential elections. For many residents of Turkey’s largest city, the arrest symbolised how far the state was willing to go to remove a perceived threat to the incumbent president.
Lines of armoured water cannon trucks were lined up and riot police massed beneath the arches of a nearby Roman aqueduct, some marching to the edge of the protest that filled the park around the city hall. Illuminated by the lights from a nearby minaret, a group of teenagers waved Turkish flags and smoked cigarettes as they sat atop a high wall to get a view of the assembled crowds.
“I’m not here for political reasons. This is about something more than politics. This is about injustice,” said an Istanbul university student, Beril, who had showed up to protest along with her mother. She had been shocked at the number of armed police on campus to repress student protests there, she said, although it had done little to quell their anger.
Like the majority of protesters who gathered outside the city hall, Beril and her mother declined to give their full names, fearing the consequences of attending the demonstration as lines of police holding riot shields marched past. “We have laws on the books here that are not being obeyed. So there is no rule of law,” her mother said, breaking off to join in a burst of chants demanding the government resign.
While some of those who gathered outside the city hall were faithful to the opposition Republican People’s party (CHP), most said they felt compelled to defy the protest ban imposed by the Istanbul governor in order to defend what remained of Turkish democracy.
İmamoğlu and over 100 other people were ordered to be detained in two separate cases brought by the Istanbul prosecutor’s office. The first accuses Istanbul’s mayor and dozens of others of financial corruption and embezzlement. The second accuses him of “aiding a terrorist organisation” by working with a banned Kurdish militant group prior to local elections last year, when Erdoğan’s party suffered significant losses.
Wednesday’s arrests marked a dramatic escalation in a crackdown on the opposition and dissenting voices in Turkey, which has been led by Erdoğan – a populist with increasingly authoritarian tendencies – as prime minister or president for more than 20 years. His term runs until 2028 but he has indicated he would like to serve longer – something he could achieve with constitutional change or if early elections are called.
On Thursday the interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said a further 37 people had been detained on suspicion of making “provocative posts inciting crime and hatred” about İmamoğlu’s detention.
The justice minister, Yılmaz Tunç, rebuffed suggestions that İmamoğlu’s arrest was politicised, and labelled calls for street protests as “disinformation”.
A group of lawyers gathered on the edge of Saraçhane park around the city hall scoffed at Tunç’s statement, and said they had showed up to demonstrate because they felt the government no longer cared to follow the rules set out in Turkey’s constitution. None were CHP supporters, they added. “This situation is a step closer towards one-man rule, and we have to do something about it,” said a lawyer who gave her name only as Özlem. “The government isn’t following the law.”
Another group of recent university graduates said they had turned up to demonstrate “because we could not be silent in the face of this injustice”.
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“He is our hope,” one said emphatically of İmamoğlu, who was widely expected to be named the CHP’s candidate for president in a primary vote due in just a few days. The 53-year-old mayor, who swept into office on a wave of popular support in 2019, defying efforts to annul his first victory and later a political ban, is widely seen as Erdoğan’s nemesis and his only true challenger.
“They can’t put İmamoğlu in jail – if they try to do that, he’ll only get more support,” said the protester. He struggled to believe that the authorities would dare to keep the mayor of Istanbul behind bars, he added, but believed that if they did, it would only spur more protests.
“We got too complacent about the situation here, so now this could really be the beginning of something,” his friend added. CHP officials called for further protests on Thursday, shortly after İmamoğlu was taken for questioning while in custody.
Another young protester walked past carrying a sign that read “don’t be afraid, we are the people”, a slogan of the Gezi park protests in 2013 that marked a major incident of civil unrest and anti-government sentiment.
“Ekrem İmamoğlu’s only crime is leading in the polls,” the CHP leader, Özgür Özel, told the assembled crowds, who responded with cheers. “This is nothing but an attempt to overthrow the national will.”
On Thursday, hundreds of university students held a peaceful march in Istanbul to protest the detentions. Another demonstration was planned outside the city hall on Thursday evening.
