Mayor Imamoglu of Istanbul gets stuck: “I will never bend”

A Turkish court has decided that the mayor of Istanbul will remain stuck against him during the trial. Mayor Imamoglu, member of opposition party CHP, was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of corruption and terrorism.

The court has decided that he will be stuck for the suspicions of corruption, such as bribery and fraud, not for terrorism.

Ekrem Imamoglu fights the allegations and late Sunday morning on x Know: “Hand in hand we will undo this black, this black spot on our democracy. I stand up and will never bend.”

He and his supporters are convinced that the charges are politically motivated. The popular mayor is seen as the most important opponent of President Erdogan in the presidential election in 2028.

Party mate and mayor of the capital Ankara, Mansur Yavas, calls the decision of the court a shame for the legal system. The leader of Imamoglu’s party, Özgür Özel, already spoke of “a coup attempt against the next president” after the arrest.

The arrest was four days before the primaries of CHP. Today the one and a half million members of that party can choose who will be their presidential candidate. Imamoglu is the only candidate. Today’s pre -election is therefore mainly symbolic and intended to show how great the support for Imamoglu is.

The government said earlier that the arrest of Imamoglu has nothing to do with the position of Erdogan. The Minister of Justice said that Turkey is a rule of law with independent judges.

In recent days, tens of thousands of Turks took to the streets to protest against Imamoglu’s arrest and against Erdogan’s government. They are the biggest protests in the country in more than ten years.

Also yesterday there was massive protest in different cities in Turkey:

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been president of Turkey since 2014. Before that he was prime minister for more than ten years. At the end of last year the European Commission ruled that Turkey slides in the field of democratic norms and the rule of law. For example, Erdogan is attracting more and more power and, according to the committee, opposition parties have less and less room in parliament to control power.

Economically, it is also not going well in the country. For example, prices have risen sharply in recent years. The Turkish central bank expects an inflation of 24 percent for this year. That is already a lot lower than before. Last May, inflation was 75 percent.