Hundreds of thousands of protestors flooded the streets of Istanbul Saturday, as unrest raged for the 10th day over the jailing of Ekrem Imamoglu, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top political rival.
Supporters waving Turkish flags and banners with Imamoglu’s face read aloud a jail letter from the Istanbul mayor to a cheering crowd.
“The nation is united against the oppressor,” it said. “They can put me in jail and try me as much as they want, the nation has shown that it will crush all traps and plots.”
Saturday’s civil unrest marked the 10th consecutive day of demonstrations across numerous cities, the largest the country has seen in a decade.
The massive protest was orchestrated by the country’s main opposition party, the center-left Republican People’s Party (CHP), who last week held a primary election to endorse Imamoglu as its candidate for the next presidential election. He’s seen as the only candidate capable of ousting Erdogan.
Turkey has been plagued by civil unrest since Imamoglu’s March 19 arrest, which supporters slammed as politically motivated, on alleged financial crimes and links to insurgent Kurdish militants. His jailing came as part of an escalating government crackdown on opposition leaders.
“When we look at the history of humanity, in all countries, all administrations, all regimes where there was such oppression, sooner or later, the people and those who resisted the oppression have won. The real owners of those countries won,” Bunyamin Turan, a retired teacher, said at Saturday’s demonstrations.
Protestors are calling for Imamoglu’s release, for Erdogan to resign and for an early election, arguing that the government has lost legitimacy. The presidential election is currently scheduled for 2028.
Erdogan, first as Turkey’s prime minister, has been in power for more than two decades.
Close to 1,900 people have been detained since the protests began, and 260 are in jail awaiting trial, according to Turkey’s interior minister.
With Post wires
