Prosecutors accuse İmamoğlu of exploiting his position for financial gain, including the improper allocation of government contracts.
Thousands of people have gathered outside Istanbul’s city hall for a second consecutive night to protest against the arrest of the city’s mayor, which many view as a politically driven attempt to eliminate a key rival from the next presidential race.
Ekrem İmamoğlu, a prominent political opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was arrested after a dawn raid on his residence on Wednesday as part of investigations into alleged corruption and terror links.
Prosecutors accuse him of exploiting his position for financial gain, including the improper allocation of government contracts.
In a separate investigation, prosecutors also accuse him of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), by allegedly forming an alliance with Kurdish groups for the Istanbul municipal elections.
The PKK, behind a decades-long insurgency in Turkey, is designated a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the EU, the US and other allies.
It was not clear when authorities would begin questioning the mayor, who can be detained without charges for up to four days.
Analysts say İmamoğlu could be removed from office and replaced by a ‘trustee mayor’ if he is formally charged with links to the PKK.
The detention of İmamoğlu has deepened concerns over democracy and sparked protests in Istanbul and elsewhere in the country, despite a four-day ban on demonstrations in the city and some road closures.
It also caused a shockwave in the financial market, triggering temporary halts in trading on Wednesday to prevent panic selling.
AK Parti rejects accusations of interference
Critics see the crackdown as an effort by Erdoğan to extend his more then two-decade rule following significant losses by the ruling party in local elections last year.
Government officials reject claims that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that the courts operate independently.
Omer Celik, the spokesperson of Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti), dismissed allegations by the opposition that the detentions were government-orchestrated and urged respect for the judicial process.
“What a politician should do is to follow the judicial process,” Celik told journalists. “None of us have any information about the content of the (criminal) file.”
He also rejected accusations levelled by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) that the mayor’s arrest amounted to a coup saying, “The name of our party, our president can only be associated with democracy — on the opposite side of a coup.”
Earlier on Thursday, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said authorities had detained dozens of people for sharing “provocative” social media content related to the İmamoğlu’s detention.
Authorities identified 261 social media accounts that shared posts that allegedly incited public hatred or crime, including 62 that are run by people based abroad, Yerlikaya wrote on X.
At least 37 of the suspected owners were detained and efforts to detain other suspects were continuing.
İmamoğlu’s arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the CHP presidential candidate in a primary scheduled for Sunday.
The party’s leader has said the primary will go ahead as planned.
İmamoğlu and other charges
Before his detention, İmamoğlu already faced multiple criminal cases that could result in prison sentences and a political ban.
He is also appealing a 2022 conviction for insulting members of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council, a case that could result in a political ban.
This week, a university nullified his diploma, citing alleged irregularities in his 1990 transfer from a private university in northern Cyprus to its business faculty, a decision İmamoğlu said he would challenge.
The decision effectively bars him from running for president, since the position requires candidates to be university graduates.
İmamoğlu was elected mayor of Turkey’s largest city in March 2019, a historic blow to Erdoğan and the president’s AK Parti, which had controlled Istanbul for quarter of a century.
Erdoğan’s party pushed to void the municipal election results in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities.
The challenge resulted in a repeat of the election a few months later, which İmamoğlu also won.
