At least 37 individuals have been arrested in Turkey for posting criticisms about the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on social media platforms. İmamoğlu is broadly regarded as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s primary political opponent.
On Wednesday, İmamoğlu was detained alongside 105 additional individuals, which included business leaders, journalists, and other politicians.
The Turkish administration asserts that the mayor of Istanbul faces accusations of corruption and assisting a terrorist organization. Nonetheless, both he and his followers maintain that these allegations stem from political motivations.
The Republican People's Party (CHP), of which İmamoğlu is a member, denounced his detention as "an attempted coup against our future president."
Meanwhile, İmamoğlu stated just prior to his arrest that “the people’s will cannot be suppressed.”
Even though there was a four-day restriction on protests in Istanbul, individuals ventured out onto the streets on Wednesday to demonstrate against what they perceive as an assault on their nation’s democratic principles.
Critics of Erdoğan also expressed their irritation through various social media channels.
On Thursday, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stated that numerous individuals were detained for circulating "incendiary" content online. According to him, these postings provoked public enmity or criminal behavior.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has recognized 261 accounts that disseminated similar messages, resulting in 37 arrests by Thursday.
İmamoğlu was sent to prison mere days prior to an internal CHP election where he was slated to be designated as the party’s presidential nominee.
The day prior to his arrest, Istanbul University invalidated İmamoğlu’s degree, mentioning discrepancies in his transfer from a private institution in Cyprus during the 1990s as the reason.
He stated that the decision, which would disqualify him from presidential candidacy since all nominees must possess a university degree, was "without legal foundation."
In March 2019, İmamoğlu was elected as the mayor of Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city. Erdoğan's party alleged voting irregularities, but İmamoğlu won the subsequent rerun.
Last year, the mayor kept his post as his party achieved considerable advancements nationwide, opposing Erdoğan’s administration.
Several global leaders have denounced İmamoğlu’s arrest.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the incident as "disheartening for democracy in Turkey and undoubtedly dispiriting for European-Turkish relations."
"We can only urge for an immediate halt to this situation and for the opposition and the government to compete with one another instead of having the opposition dragged into courts," he stated.
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