Turkey detains 37 over 'provocative' social media posts following arrest of Istanbul mayor

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish authorities detained 37 people for sharing “provocative” content on social media, the interior minister said Thursday, pressing ahead with a crackdown on dissenting voices that escalated with the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, a potential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested after a dawn raid on his residence on Wednesday as part of investigations into alleged corruption and terror links. Several other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.

The detention of a popular opposition leader and key Erdogan rival deepened concerns over democracy and sparked protests in Istanbul and elsewhere, despite a four-day ban on demonstrations in the city and road closures. On Thursday, university students in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, held peaceful demonstrations to protest the detention.

It also caused a shockwave in the financial market, triggering temporary halts in trading on Wednesday to prevent panic selling.

Erdogan’s party rejects accusations of interference

Critics see the crackdown as an effort by Erdogan 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 spokesman of Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, disputed 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 accusation leveled by the 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.”

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said authorities identified 261 social media accounts that shared provocative posts — related to the mayor’s detention — that allegedly incited public hatred or crime, including 62 that are run by people based abroad. At least 37 of the suspected owners were detained and efforts to detain other suspects were continuing, he wrote on the X social media platform.

Imamoglu’s arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s presidential candidate in a primary scheduled for Sunday. The party’s leader has said the primary will go ahead as planned.

Germany calls the arrest a bad sign

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed concern over the mayor’s detention, saying it was a “very, very bad sign” for Turkey’s relations with the European Union.

Scholz said it was “depressing for democracy in Turkey, but certainly also depressing for the relationship between Europe and Turkey.”

“We can only call for this to end immediately and for opposition and government to stand in competition with each other, and not the opposition being brought to court,” he said.

Prosecutors accused Imamoglu of exploiting his position for financial gain, including the improper allocation of government contracts.

In a separate investigation, prosecutors also accuse Imamoglu of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or 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 organization by Ankara, Washington 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 Imamoglu could be removed from office and replaced by a “trustee mayor” if he is formally charged with links to the PKK.

Imamoglu faces other charges

Before his detention, Imamoglu 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 Imamoglu said he would challenge. The decision effectively bars him from running for president, since the position requires candidates to be university graduates.

Imamoglu was elected mayor of Turkey’s largest city in March 2019, a historic blow to Erdogan and the president’s Justice and Development Party, which had controlled Istanbul for a quarter-century. Erdogan’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 Imamoglu also won. The mayor retained his seat following local elections last year, during which his party made significant gains against Erdogan’s governing party.

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Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Geir Moulson contributed from Berlin.

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