Istanbul: After his third night in custody, the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, would appear before the prosecutors on Saturday, only a few hours after hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Turkiye in a great show of challenge.
It was the third consecutive night that the protesters had gathered against the arrest of Imamoglu, the greatest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose early arrest on Wednesday caused Turkiye's largest street protests in more than a decade.
After a night of clashes in Istanbul, Ankara and the western city of Izmir between protesters and the riot police, who fired tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse them, the security forces arrested 97 people, said Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya.
And the media reports said the police had raided dozens of houses during the night, although there was no immediate confirmation of the detained number.
The 53 -year -old mayor, who was arrested a few days before the CHP appointed him his candidate for the 2028 presidential race, spoke with the police on Saturday morning in relation to the “terrorist” investigation, sources of party said. AFP.
Then it was expected to appear before the prosecutors of Caglayan Courthouse at 1800 GMT to be interrogated both in the graft and in the terrorist probes, they said.
Already appointed in a growing list of legal probes, Imamoglu, which was flatly re -elected last year, has been accused with six others of “helping and inciting a terrorist organization,” namely the Kurdo group forbidden PKK.
It is also under investigation by “bribery, extortion, corruption, aggravated fraud and illegally obtaining personal data for profit as part of a criminal organization” along with another 99 suspects.
Questioned for six hours
Police interrogated him for six hours on Friday about graft accusations, said the party.
“Mr. Imamoglu denies all the charges against him,” said one of his lawyers, Mehmet Pehlivan.
“The detention was aimed at undermining the reputation of Imamoglu in the eyes of society,” he wrote in X early on Saturday, saying that both probes were “based on false accusations” and “a violation of the right to a fair trial.”
Protesters throughout the country were due again to Rally on Saturday night.
In a message about X sent through his lawyers, Imamoglu said he was “honest and proud” of the protesters who took to the streets in more than 50 of the 81 provinces of Turkiye, saying that they were “protecting our republic, our democracy, the future of a single Turk and the will of our nation.”
Going to the crowds outside the City Council in Istanbul on Friday night, Ozgur Ozel, who directs the main CHP of the opposition, said that 300,000 people had joined the demonstration challenging a prohibition of protest and an acute warning of Erdogan that Turkiye would not tolerate “terror in the street.”
While talking, the crowd chewed and applauded, stirring flags and banners and singing slogans such as: “They do not remain silent or you the next.”
The measure against Imamoglu has harmed the Financial and Lira Turkish markets, with the Bist 100 index of the Stock Exchange that closed almost eight percent on Friday.
