The protest movement in Turkey following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu is gaining momentum as the opposition claimed more than 2 million participants in Saturday’s rally in Istanbul and proposed a nationwide schedule of rallies.
A nationwide campaign for the resignation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and snap elections has begun in Turkey.
Ozgur Özel, head of the opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP), gave the go-ahead in Trabzon to collect signatures demanding “freedom for the CHP’s presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoglu.” 93-year-old Rukiye Köroğlu was the first signature.
Özel said they plan to collect 28 million signatures from Turks to symbolically surpass the number of votes Erdogan received in the last election. He was elected president on May 28, 2023 with 27.83 million votes.
The CHP’s decision to impose a schedule of protests across Turkey and take rallies away from the centre of Istanbul to its outskirts has been linked to the rising number of detainees.
Since March 18, the date of Ekrem İmamoğlu’s arrest, police have detained more than 2,000 people, 260 of who have been sent to custody.
Daily actions, especially in Istanbul, have been accompanied by clashes with police, tear gas and water cannons. On March 25, protesters attempted to block the Galata Bridge, leading to a temporary traffic stoppage.
The first rally at the new location was held last Saturday, in Istanbul’s Maltepe district in the Asian part of the city and, according to Özel, broke all records of recent days: 2.2 million people gathered in the park.
