By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – According to media reports on Monday Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was officially arrested on Sunday over corruption charges.
The Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reported that Imamoglu faced accusations of “bribery, corruption, qualified fraud, illegally obtaining personal data for profit and tampering with a tender.
Imamoglu had been under interrogation in police custody at the Istanbul Police Headquarters since his detention on Wednesday in connection with two investigations related to terrorism and corruption, media reports said.
He was escorted to the main courthouse at 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) on Saturday under heavy police presence for further legal proceedings after interrogation at the police station.
The mayor denied all the accusations against him.
Imamoglu was released under judicial control in connection with the terrorism investigation, in which he is accused of aiding and assisted the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the US, media reported.
Imamoglu applied to the Republican People’s Party to become a presidential candidate for the 2028 elections.
The CHP is expected to officially declare Imamoglu as its presidential candidate following a vote by party members, which began at 8 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and is set to end at 5 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) on Sunday.
Imamoglu was re-elected for a second term as mayor of Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, after his decisive victory in the local elections held in 2024, over his rival Murat Kurum, a candidate from the ruling Justice and Development Party.
President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday accused the CHP’s leadership of turning the party “into an apparatus to absolve a handful of municipal robbers who have become blinded by money.”
He accused it of “doing everything to disturb the public peace and to polarize the nation.”
Imamoglu said that the arrests are politically motivated. But the Ministry of Justice has criticized those who link Erdogan to the arrests and insisted on its judicial independence.
Thousands have taken to the streets across Turkey in largely peaceful demonstrations, media reports stated.
Authorities tried to sabotage demonstrations with a four-day ban on all gatherings in Istanbul, which was extended to Ankara and Izmir as the protests spread, media reports said.
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