Even after more than a thousand arrests and hard clashes with the police forces Turkey remains in the square for the mayor of Istanbul Arrested for corruption and suspended from the position. Thousands have returned to demonstrate for Ekrem Imamoglu, the first citizen suspended from the assignment after the validation of the arrest for corruption.
From the Besiktas district, in the city on the Bosphorus, many have reached Sarachane, the square in front of the municipality, which since IMamoglu was arrested, fills every evening with thousands of people who express support for the mayor and contest the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
For now 1,133 people are in custody During the protests in Istanbul and other cities of Türkiye, prohibited by the Prefecture. The demonstrations in the city on the Bosphorus, but also in Ankara and Smitne, close regularly with clashes between the demonstrators and the police and 123 agents were injured While the Ministry of the Interior has made it known that people affiliated to 12 different terrorist organizations have been identified among the arrested “.
The journalists are also ends in custody. Nine Turkish reporters who had documented the protests in Istanbul, including photographer Yasin Akgul of AFP, were reached in their homes at dawn by the police who brought them to the barracks, unleashing a reaction from the press union that asked for immediate release.
Launching a new lunge against the protesters, considered “road terrorists”the Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan has mocked the largest CHP opposition party for the primary on the choice of the candidate for the presidential elections, which have crowned Ekrem Imamoglu. “They held an election where the votes were publicly given but they were counted secretly”, He thundered the Turkish leader, defining as “a theatrical show” the consultations attended by almost 15 million people in all 81 Turkish provinces. In the primaries of the largest opposition party, the CHP (secular and center -left political force), to choose the candidate for the next presidential elections, scheduled in 2028, Imamoglu was the only candidate.
“When the curtain falls, their show will end,” he sentenced the sultan. In the meantime, New criticisms come from Europe To Turkey with the German government which defined the arrest of Imamoglu “unacceptable” and as “a bad sign for the development of democracy” and for the relationships between the two countries, after the European Commission had in recent days similar concerns. The crisis in Turkey also risks blowing up a scheduled visit in the spring of the Greek premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Ankara to meet Erdogan and makes the organization of the high -level cooperation council “difficult” between Greece and Turkey, while for about two years the two countries have been trying to solve issues that historically divide them.
This was made to know a spokesman for the Greek government, defining the situation in Türkiye “unstable” and “worrying” with Athens who “is monitoring developments”. The arrest of the mayor of Istanbul continues to have an impact on the economy also: The Turkish lira continues to descend (at 37.87 on the dollar and 41.05 on the euro) while the bag resumed inspiration, closing with a rise of almost 3% after a week in which it left over 16.5% on the ground, recording a collapse that had not been seen since 2008. Forcing the Turkish authority for financial markets to prohibit sales until 25 April.