File image.
Protests broke out in Turkey on March 19 following the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a leading opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Imamoglu, who won the mayorship of Turkey’s most populous city last year with a landslide, was arrested just days before he was expected to be nominated as his party’s candidate for the presidency on charges including terrorism and organized crime.
State prosecutors also issued warrants for 100 other people including journalists, business people and members of Imamoglu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP), which is Turkey’s main opposition group. The CHP was set to hold a primary election on March 23, during which Imamoglu was widely expected to emerge as the group’s presidential candidate.
The Istanbul governor’s office imposed bans on protests following the arrests. The metro and key roads in the city were also closed. Still, the protests went on into March 20, with supporters of Imamoglu gathering in city barricades and university campuses.
Turkish authorities also restricted access to social networks, with Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announcing on the X social network that 37 people were arrested for social media posts which were deemed “provocative” and fell under the classification of “incitement to commit a crime.”
Authorities also seized a construction company co-owned by Imamoglu – Imamoglu Construction, Trade and Industry – and handed control over to a court.
The move against Imamoglu came after a months-long legal crackdown on opposition figures across the country which has been criticised as a politicised attempt to hurt the CHP ahead of the next presidential elections.
“We must stand against this evil as a nation,” Imamoglu said on X, calling on members of the judiciary and Erdogan’s ruling party to fight injustice.
“These events have gone beyond our parties, political ideals. The process is now concerning our people, namely your families. It is time to raise our voices,” he added.
The Turkish economy took a serious hit after the arrest of the popular opposition leader with the lira hitting a record low against the dollar. To control the situation, Turkey’s central bank sold a record amount of foreign currency, nearly $10 billion, according to bankers’ calculations cited by Reuters.
Such events are not unusual for Turkey. However, the economic ramifications could take its toll on the popularity of Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The economic crisis which began in 2018 is yet to be taken seriously by the AKP, which continues to prioritize foreign policies over domestic issues.
From Syria, to Libya, Iraq and Azerbaijan, Erdogan succeeded in expanding Turkey’s influence over the past decade, relying mainly on the country’s growing military force. However, the steady deterioration of the Turkish economy could threaten all of this success.
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disgusting turks can never be trusted. 2 faced snakes is what they are. i hope they start killing each other.
they wont they will just replace one snake through the other and continue to torture everyone around them.
trueeee true
regime change efforts by jewsa more likely.
it is more likely that he is in your mothers cont
they tried it before. the sultan’s pre-empting is an early call. remember, they arrested a lot of mossad rats some time ago.
romania has the same issue currently .
the same issue is in your mothers cont
i hope, turks start killing eachothers soons. which dictator goes with a normal election? dictator erdogan will not go with a normal election. dictators only goes with military coups or with civil war. but turkish army are full with radical islamists generals which support isis and erdogan.radical islamist erdogan turned turkey to a 3rd world islamist scum. nothing more. arabs invaded turkey from inside without making a war. fucking bastards. so late for turkey. its finished
you wish death upon others ?
he wishes death on your mothers cont too
u r inferior amerikunt ruled by mulatto transgenders
no, the ruling was against your mothers stinking cont
mustapha was a f***m***n, like all the other leaders who were selected to be put into power all over the world after the great war.
muslim botherhood, hamas, hts, all part of the deception upon the muslim people of faith. put there by the banks who are all in the same cult. it is the powers and principalities warned about the by the nazarene.
somebody who understands it. all of these religions are fucking fake. where was god when africa was being enslaved? did got not know that it wil create the us and the us will create israel? bullshit adam and eva retards. i have only 1 enemy and that is that creature who created me because it wanted it to. jesus never died on the cross for my sins. i was born into jesus’s sin. i never wanted this life. but here i am getting dragged by god
but after years and years of brainwashing i finally started to think for myself. now i just lay back and watch how people getting murdered like they should. murder all of them and bring in the nukes. kill all humanity and let me enjoy the show.
me too me too i agree
amerikunt inferior species no brain to wash
i was born into jesus’s sin. i never wanted this life. but here i am getting dragged by god. same here.
inferior amerikunt species only understands lgbt
you hate your mom ? not good.
do you know that the rotschilds have bought the vatican in 1835, for 400.000 £. 5 billions usd today). ? it’s not even a joke. search rotschild loan to the holy see 1835.
so what are you telling me? i need to sit here and listen to your bullshit god stories? are you going to tell me how fagg jesus walked all of these jewish rats in the middle of the ocean while the sea was split? bring in your fake faggot god so i can start ask my questions.
for years turkey has been the cia road for oil smuggling of illegally stolen syrian oil to the med. they will not let this pirate ship sink . it is and will be a dictatorship if this clan has any say . oil money bribes are powerful . the peoples will is not .
i tell you what your mothers cont has been but the goats still in there
erdogan has become a flipfloper. hypocrisy is the worst sin as it involves all the other ones.
people-willing, this ultra-fascist zio-terrorist dictatorship of erdogan and his criminal gang will fall!
erdogan what goes around comes around release asof stall terrorist,mke joint patrols with putin and bond russian convoy.bomb armani eskander’s.sabotage libya russian troops.
syria will turn into a quagmire for both erdogan and shlomo.
shlomo mcshlomi will avenge his losses by buying more containers full of ziopends diapers…the fight continues…
yes, the containers are for your mothers cont. its huge
maybe, but not your mothers cont
seljuks and khazarians were both turkish/mongolian tribes where also djengiz khan and atilla the hun came from.
like the turkeys they were all neanderthals who are now dead neanderthals
i can only seduce that edrogan’s position of power in turkey isn’t as strong. if it was, he would have allowed an seemingly credible opposition to be apparent within turkey’s political framework.
being the strong man of a nation doesn’t mean it’s for life