Turkey has detained 1,133 participants in the protests that have been ongoing since March 19 following the detention and subsequent arrest of Istanbul Mayor and opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Tuesday.
Ten photographers and journalists are among those detained, according to the Turkish Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA).
Turkish media workers’ union Disk-Basin-Is said in connection with the mass detentions “an attack on press freedom and the people’s right to know the truth.”
On the evening of March 24, thousands of people again protested in Istanbul and Ankara, demanding, among other things, the resignation of the government, the dpa news agency reported.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the demonstrations, calling them a “movement of violence.” He held the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), of which İmamoğlu is a member, responsible for the wave of protests.
Meanwhile, the Republican People’s Party, which is part of the parliamentary opposition, held internal elections to determine a candidate for early presidential elections. Ekrem İmamoğlu, despite his arrest, received support in the form of 14.85 million votes. Party leader Ozgur Özel revealed that 1.67 million people out of the party’s 1.75 million members participated in the vote. This number reflects internal data only. Additional ballot boxes were also installed for the so-called solidarity vote, which received another 13.2 million votes. These figures show that İmamoğlu remains popular among the party’s supporters.
İmamoğlu became mayor of Istanbul in 2019, defeating the ruling party candidate in an election that came as a surprise to many observers.
Impact of protests on the economy
Mass protests in Turkey have also had an impact on the country’s economy. On March 19, the lira exchange rate collapsed to an all-time low of 41.1 per US dollar. Shares of Turkish companies also fell, the Borsa Istanbul 100 Base Index (BIST 100) fell by 6.9 per cent, which led to a halt in trading. According to Bloomberg experts, the volatility of the Turkish stock market is due to the fact that the country’s stock market is dominated by private investors (they own 62.5 per cent of all shares), who react to disturbing news.
Recep Erdogan banned short selling of shares amid protests and the collapse of the national currency. Earlier, these rules applied only to securities of the 50 largest Turkish companies.
