Turkey protests: Journalists arrested and opposition social media blocked as Imamoglu jailed
Journalists have been arrested and opposition social media accounts have been blocked in Turkey as protests continue over the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
On Sunday, Imamoglu was confirmed by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) as their candidate for the presidency, with around 15 million people lining up at ballot boxes across the country to deliver a symbolic vote.
The mayor, who has officially been stripped of his position, spent his first night in jail on Sunday evening over allegations of extortion, money laundering and irregularities concerning tenders and procurements.
Imamoglu denounced his arrest as "execution without trial" and in a later message from prison said that he said he would not back down.
"I wear a white shirt that you cannot stain. I have a strong arm that you cannot twist. I won't budge an inch. I will win this war," he said in a message passed through his lawyers.
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Protests have been ongoing since Imamoglu's arrest last week, with at least 1,133 people detained by police during demonstrations, according to human rights groups.
Police fired tear gas and water cannon at demonstrators, who see the mayor's arrest as a political ploy to eliminate a potential threat to the 23-year rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP).
According to media monitor MLSA, ten journalists who had been covering the protests were detained on Monday, including AFP photographer Yasin Akgul.
A range of opposition social media accounts were also suspended on X, the Elon Musk-owned platform that regularly complies with requests by the Turkish government to block accounts.
Amongst the accounts suspended was the Progressive Lawyers' Association (CHD), news outlet Gazete Yolculuk, and a range of feminist and leftist accounts.
The CHD told Middle East Eye that its accounts had been targeted because it had been monitoring the police crackdown on the Imamoglu demonstrations.
"We noted many violations against people's rights, torture activities by police - also many people were arrested and many citizens were sent to prison," they said.
They said over 700 accounts, all associated with "opposition and human rights organisations" had been blocked in recent days.
"No court decisions were delivered to account owners and we can't send our objections and legal applications - people's voices silenced by X and the government with full coordination," they said.
"We are also running legal processes about these banning and blocking activities. For now we note that there have been no criminal activities and violence calls from these accounts. So the government made these demands with no legal reason."
'Unauthorised demonstrations'
Imamoglu was first elected mayor of Istanbul in April 2019, although that vote was overturned by the Supreme Electoral Council (TSK) after the AKP complained of irregularities. The vote was re-run and Imamoglu was elected again with an increased margin.
He has faced a number of legal problems since then. In 2022, Imamoglu was charged with insulting a public official for allegedly calling the TSK “foolish” in 2019 over its decision to cancel that April’s mayoral election.
On Sunday, government-appointed Istanbul governor Davut Gul accused demonstrators of "damaging mosques and cemeteries" in a post on X, and warned that "any attempt to disrupt public order will not be tolerated".
"We ask our citizens to stay away from environments where masked people are present and not to participate in any unauthorised demonstrations," he wrote.
Although Erdogan and the AKP won the 2023 presidential and general elections, their formidable electoral machine has come under increasing pressure in recent years, with Turkey's economic issues and a perceived weak stance on Israel's war on Gaza undermining support.
The AKP and its allies suffered in local elections last year, with the CHP sweeping many regions of the country, including another win for Imamoglu in Istanbul.
Polling has shown that should Imamoglu be selected by the CHP as its next presidential candidate, he stands a real chance of unseating Erdogan.
Demonstrations have spread to more than 55 of Turkey's 81 provinces, as they have increasingly become a vehicle for a range of other complaints over increasing authoritarianism and a lingering economic crisis in the country.
"Ekrem Imamoglu appealed to youth with his effective rhetoric that somehow corresponded to the expectations and emotions of these groups in particular, who need a glimpse of hope for the future," said Ayhan Kaya, an academic at Istanbul Bilgi University, speaking to MEE last week.
He warned that younger people, in particular, were increasingly choosing migration as an alternative to the limited options they had in Turkey.
"Under the current conditions, young people speak out on the streets since the parliamentary democracy is not functioning," he explained.
"If their claims are not heard and recognised by the state actors, the continuation of the already existing new wave of migration may linger on."
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