Supporters of the imprisoned Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, claim that millions have rallied to protest his arrest on corruption charges. While there are no official numbers, observers describe these as the largest anti-government protests in a decade.
Imamoglu faces multiple charges, including “establishing and managing a criminal organization, taking bribes, extortion, unlawfully recording personal data, and rigging a tender.” He has denied all allegations.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated that anyone accused of a crime must face trial in court and that the “movement of violence” on the streets will not succeed.
Ozgur Ozel, leader of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), is encouraging the protests and has launched a petition demanding Imamoglu’s release and an early presidential election.
What is Imamoglu’s appeal?
Imamoglu was widely expected to run for president in 2028, but his imprisonment—and the cancellation of his university degree days earlier—technically disqualifies him. However, the CHP nominated him as its presidential candidate on March 23, 2025.
During his 2019 mayoral campaign, Imamoglu ran a low-key campaign, even after being forced to rerun the election when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) candidate disputed the results. Since taking office, he has been credited with improving Istanbul’s infrastructure, social services, and cultural heritage.
“Some of his appeal boils down to his personality: warm, friendly, articulate, accessible. He’s also not divisive, which is rare in Turkish politics at this stage,” said Ziya Meral, a lecturer in international studies at SOAS, University of London.
Imamoglu emerged in a city that is a “microcosm of Turkish identity politics,” Burcu Ozcelik of the Royal United Services Institute told Al Jazeera, adding that nowhere else in the country is political competition as fierce. The protests, she said, are a response to “the perceived injustice of jailing a democratically elected mayor who has a track record of being a ‘man of the people.’”
What did Erdogan say?
Erdogan has denied that the charges against Imamoglu are politically motivated. He has previously accused Imamoglu of being a pawn of foreign interests and dismissed the Istanbul mayor’s past legal troubles as insignificant.
The president has labeled the current wave of protests as “a movement of violence” and accused the CHP leadership of “shielding those who attack police with stones and axes,” citing over 100 police officers injured in the rallies.
“Courts held those accountable who committed treason against the national will, and will do so in the future,” he said. “The judiciary will hold those behind any sabotage against the Turkish economy and the wellbeing of the nation accountable.”
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc has defended the judiciary’s independence against accusations of political bias, stating that Erdogan did not influence Imamoglu’s arrest.
What has the CHP said?
The CHP has condemned the charges against Imamoglu as politically motivated, aimed at removing him from the presidential race. In addition to encouraging protests, Ozel has called for a boycott of products and services from companies thought to be close to the AK Party, an initiative Erdogan has labeled as economic “sabotage.”
On Wednesday, Ozel echoed calls among Imamoglu’s supporters for a one-day shopping ban, writing on social media: “We all saw what state the junta alliance against us fell into in panic. Those who could not go out for years had to go out in a hurry and see the state of the poor nation.”
“The real reason Ekrem Imamoglu is in custody … [is] because he’s already managed to thrash his opponents at the ballot box four different times,” Imamoglu’s wife Dilek said in a video podcast.
“They’ve detained hundreds of our children, thousands of our youths,” Ozel told protesters in Istanbul. “They only had one goal in mind: to intimidate them … make sure they never go out again.”
So does everyone like Imamoglu?
While Imamoglu has been praised for improving Istanbul’s infrastructure, social services, and cultural heritage, he has also faced criticism. In 2019, he was heavily criticized for not preparing the city adequately for forecast floods. The following year, he faced backlash for briefly visiting the earthquake-hit city of Elazig before departing for a skiing holiday with his family.
A profile in the pro-government Daily Sabah in February described a “political trajectory … stained with criticism over his governance” of Turkiye’s most populated city. In July 2020, an audit of the Istanbul Municipality highlighted what critics called excessive spending, contradicting past pledges to keep prices low and cut municipal overspending.
He has been subject to official inquiries into everything from tender rigging to attempting to influence the judiciary, some of which were ongoing at the time of his arrest.
Why doesn’t the CHP just pick another presidential candidate?
The CHP has not explained its decision but seems determined to stand by Imamoglu. He won Istanbul in 2019, breaking the AK Party’s 25-year hold on the city, which Erdogan once described as: “If we lose Istanbul, we lose Turkiye.”
In last year’s local elections, Imamoglu and the CHP flipped several districts that the AK Party had considered its strongholds. As a practicing Muslim, Imamoglu is seen as broadening the CHP’s appeal among more conservative voters.
The CHP may also be betting on Imamoglu’s political trajectory and life continuing to resemble Erdogan’s, as many analysts have noted.
Are Imamoglu and Erdogan’s lives that similar?
There are notable similarities. Both have familial ties to Turkiye’s Black Sea region and served as mayors of Istanbul—Erdogan from 1994 to 1998 and Imamoglu until his arrest on corruption charges.
Like Imamoglu, Erdogan spent time in prison during his political career—four months of a 10-month sentence—and was banned from politics for a while after reading a poem in September 1998 that was deemed anti-Republican by the secular state.
Both also have football connections. Imamoglu was an amateur player and remains a vocal supporter of his local team, Trabzonspor, while Erdogan briefly played semi-professionally for Camialtıspor FC.
“Erdogan himself began his national political career first as a mayor of Istanbul and had publicly stated that whoever wins in Istanbul will win the national elections,” Meral said, adding that this prediction had proven true for Erdogan many years ago.
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