Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Protests have raged on for a fourth night in Turkey following the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor, part of the largest demonstrations the country has seen in more than a decade. Ekrem Imamoglu, a rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained on Wednesday, days before he was due to be selected as a 2028 presidential candidate. Imamoglu appeared at an Istanbul court on Saturday and prosecutors requested his formal arrest on terrorism and corruption charges. He has denied the allegations. In a speech, Erdogan repeated his condemnation of the unrest and accused Imamoglu’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) of trying to ‘disturb the peace and polarise our people.’ Outside the mayor’s office in Istanbul, before the protests had even properly begun, tear gas hung in the air.” (03/22/25)