The Turkish opposition intends to demonstrate its solidity to the authorities after the detention of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. The Republican People’s Party (CHP), which was supposed to nominate the mayor as a presidential candidate, promised that it would hold the primaries, as planned, on March 23. Its chairman, Ozgur Ozel, called on supporters of the CHP across the country to come out on this day for a nationwide protest. According to the head of the party, this should be an overture to early elections.
Supporters of the CHP have launched indefinite protests in connection with the March 19 detention of Ekrem Imamoglu. Despite the fact that the office of the governor of Istanbul province recently announced a ban on street demonstrations until March 23 inclusive, thousands of residents of the metropolis gathered at the central police building, the mayor’s office and the headquarters of the CHP.
The protesters demanded the release of the oppositionist, who is accused of corrupt activities and contacts with Kurdish leftists. The crowd was chanting: “There is no salvation alone: either we are all together, or none of us.” Thousands of people supported Imamoglu in Ankara, which is under the control of RNP member Mansur Yavash.
Ozel promised that his party would still hold primaries, where Imamoglu was expected to be nominated for the 2028 presidential election. The preliminary elections will be held as scheduled on March 23 in all provinces of the country. However, Ozel explained that another urn will be placed next to the boxes, which will be called the urn of solidarity. She is probably needed to support Imamoglu and other detainees. Separately, Ozel called on supporters of the CHP to take to the streets next Sunday. “We – thousands, millions – will be on the streets. March 23 will be a harbinger of early elections. I urge all representatives of the CHP to support Imamoglu as the future president of Turkey,” he said.
Technically, the nomination of the Istanbul mayor is hampered not only by his detention, but also by the decision of Istanbul University, which recently revoked the bachelor’s degree from the current mayor. The reason for this decision was the alleged procedural violations that Imamoglu committed during his transfer to this institution in 1990. The Turkish Prosecutor General’s Office has been trying to investigate them since February of this year.
Yavash, who was considered to be Imamoglu’s replacement in terms of popular popularity, has already refused to participate in the RNP primaries. “I declare to the public that I am suspending my decision on the presidential nomination until this lawlessness is eliminated,” the opposition mayor of Ankara stressed. He stressed that Imamoglu has already secured sufficient support from the CHP parliamentary group to participate in the primaries. “Eliminating competitors in a way inconsistent with democracy is, first of all, the greatest evil that can be inflicted on Turkey and its democracy, and Turkey has been trying to institutionalize it for decades,” Yavash added.
As Turkiye Today notes, Yavash’s statement represents a significant shift in opposition policy, because there was a lot of uncertainty around the willingness of the mayor of Ankara to run. His decision to stand firmly on Imamoglu’s side demonstrates the growing unity of the opposition in the face of what it characterizes as politically motivated legal maneuvers, Turkiye Today emphasizes.
Ozel’s opposition calls what happened to Imamoglu an attempted coup, but the Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, dismisses such accusations. On March 20, she made her first comment on the investigation. “Ozgur Ozel cannot accuse us of putschism,” AKP spokesman Omer Celik said on March 20. He called on the CHP leader to provide evidence of the charges, but at the same time refused to comment in detail on the charges against Imamoglu.
According to the Turkish business newspaper Ekonomim, the arrests of the opposition and the possible introduction of external management for the Istanbul mayor’s office may provoke an increase in political tension and lead to new volatility in the markets. Separately, Ekonomim draws attention to the fact that the situation is fraught with a decrease in confidence in Turkey among foreign investors.
Market representatives quoted by Ekonomim note that the volume of funds sold by the Central Bank of Turkey on the day of Imamoglu’s detention amounted to $8-8.5 billion. There is a version that the Central Bank sold about $ 10 billion to support the national currency.
Ekonomim does not rule out that the negative development of the situation around the Istanbul mayor’s case may prompt the Turkish leadership to reconsider its anti-inflation policy towards tightening it and create the ground for changes in the top leadership of the Turkish regulator. The events surrounding the purge of the opposition will affect not only the short-term decisions of market participants, but also their medium- and long-term expectations, Ekonomim summarizes.
