Hundreds of thousands of Turks took to the streets of Istanbul on Saturday to protest the arrest of the city’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, a key political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The demonstrations, which have become the largest in Turkey in over a decade, signal growing discontent with the government.
During the protest, a letter from Imamoglu was read aloud to the crowd, in which he declared that he had no fear and that the Turkish nation stood united against oppression.
Protests erupted nationwide after Imamoglu was arrested last week and jailed pending trial on corruption charges. Opposition parties, human rights groups, and several Western governments have condemned the case as politically motivated, arguing that it is an attempt to eliminate a major electoral threat to Erdogan.
The protests have largely remained peaceful, but authorities have arrested nearly 2,000 demonstrators. Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), has called for early elections, insisting that the government has lost legitimacy.
Meanwhile, financial markets in Turkey have suffered a sharp decline since Imamoglu’s arrest, forcing the Central Bank to intervene to stabilize the lira. Economic analysts warn that the ongoing political crisis could further damage investor confidence.
