Latest news with #CHP-led
Rudaw Net
4 days ago
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
AKP accuses CHP leader of threatening democracy
Also in Turkey AKP lawmaker says Turkey-PKK peace process to conclude by end of 2025 Poll shows 65 percent support for Turkey-PKK peace Turkey detains three opposition mayors Hope for peace grows with new library in Turkey's Hakkari A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Saturday lashed out at Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), accusing his remarks of threatening democracy after three CHP mayors were detained on alleged corruption charges. 'His words have no value. Ozgur Ozel thinks elections are run with the same mentality as a CHP congress. Democracy and CHP congress mentality are not the same thing,' AKP spokesperson Omer Celik said, calling Ozel's remarks a 'threat to democracy.' Ozel on Saturday held a high-level CHP leadership meeting and threatened to call on citizens to take to the streets in large-scale demonstrations after three CHP mayors in southern Turkey were detained. 'You fear mass gatherings and demonstrations, so when I call people to the squares, you immediately take harsh security measures and ban them. Demonstrations are democracy. I know what day I will call people to the streets. Do not make me call people to the streets,' Ozel told reporters after the meeting. Turkish authorities on Saturday detained the mayors of the southern cities of Antalya and Adana, as well as the southeastern Kurdish city of Adiyaman (Semsur) – all CHP members – on charges of fixing tenders through bribing mayors and senior municipal executives. The arrests came as part of a wider investigation into alleged graft within CHP-led administrations, according to the state-owned Anadolu Agency. The practice of dismissing elected officials has been ongoing for years. Dozens of mainly Kurdish mayors have been removed from their posts since 2016 and sentenced on terrorism-related charges for alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara has designated a terrorist organization. More recently, the AKP-led government has cracked down on CHP and other opposition mayors, detaining them largely on cases of alleged corruption. On Thursday, a raid sparked by an alleged corruption case at the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality - a key CHP bastion - resulted in the arrests of 60 people, including former Izmir mayor Tunc Soyer and the head of CHP's Izmir branch Senol Aslanoglu. In March, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was sacked from his position on charges of corruption. Considered the main rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the upcoming 2028 elections, his arrest sparked Turkey's worst unrest in a decade, which in turn led to a massive crackdown on protests. The dismissed mayors are replaced with state-appointed trustees.
Rudaw Net
5 days ago
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
Turkey detains three opposition mayors
Also in Turkey Poll shows 65 percent support for Turkey-PKK peace Hope for peace grows with new library in Turkey's Hakkari New superstition emerges in Diyarbakir AKP lawmaker labels Kurdistan Region's role in PKK disarmament 'very important' A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish authorities on Saturday detained three mayors as part of an investigation into corruption, state media reported. All three are members of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). The mayors of the southern cities of Antalya and Adana, as well as the southeastern Kurdish city of Adiyaman (Semsur) were arrested on charges of fixing tenders through bribing mayors and senior municipal executives, according to the state-owned Anadolu Agency. 'This morning, I was detained from my house in Ankara. I am being taken to Istanbul,' Adiyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere said on X. Zeydan Karalar, mayor of Adana, vowed to 'continue the struggle' after he was detained. The arrests are part of a wider investigation into alleged graft within CHP-led administrations, according to Anadolu. Ankara mayor and CHP strongman Mansur Yavas blasted the arrests as a targeted campaign against the party. 'In a system where the law is bent and twisted according to politics, where justice is applied for one segment and ignored for another, no one should expect us to trust the rule of law or believe in justice,' he said on X. 'We will not bow to injustice, unlawfulness, and political operations.' In Turkey's 2024 municipal elections, Karalar received 46.7 percent of the vote, Tutdere scored 49.7 percent, and Antalya's Muhittin Bocek took 71.4 percent. The practice of dismissing elected officials has been ongoing for years. Dozens of mainly Kurdish mayors have been removed from their posts since 2016 and sentenced on terrorism-related charges for alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara has designated a terrorist organization. More recently, the AKP-led government has cracked down on CHP and other opposition mayors, detaining them largely on cases of alleged corruption. On Thursday, a raid sparked by an alleged corruption case at the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality - a key CHP bastion - resulted in the arrests of 60 people, including former Izmir mayor Tunc Soyer and the head of CHP's Izmir branch Senol Aslanoglu. In March, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was sacked from his position on charges of corruption. Considered the main rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the upcoming 2028 elections, his arrest sparked Turkey's worst unrest in a decade, which in turn led to a massive crackdown on protests. The dismissed mayors are replaced with state-appointed trustees.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Turkey opposition calls mass rally in Istanbul
Protesters were to join a mass rally in Istanbul Saturday at the call of Turkey's main opposition CHP over the jailing of the city's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a top figure in the party whose arrest has sparked 10 days of the country's biggest street demonstrations in a decade. Imamoglu's detention on March 19 has also prompted a repressive government response that has been sharply condemned by rights groups and drawn criticism from abroad. The rally, which begins at 0900 GMT in Maltepe on the Asian side of Istanbul, is the first such CHP-led gathering since Tuesday and comes on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration marking the end of Ramadan, which starts Sunday. Widely seen as the only Turkish politician capable of challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the ballot box, Imamoglu was elected as the CHP's candidate for the 2028 presidential race on the day he was jailed. "Imamoglu's candidacy for president is the beginning of a journey that will guarantee justice and the nation's sovereignty. Let's go to Maltepe.. and start our march to power together!" CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said on X. The protests over his arrest quickly spread across Turkey, with vast crowds joining mass nightly rallies outside Istanbul City Hall called by the CHP, that often degenerated into running battles with riot police. Although the last such rally was Tuesday, student groups have kept up their own protests, most of them masked despite a police crackdown that has seen nearly 2,000 people arrested. Among them were 20 minors who were arrested between March 22-25, of whom seven remained in custody, the Istanbul Bar Association said Friday. In Istanbul, at least 511 students were detained, many in predawn raids, of whom 275 were jailed, lawyer Ferhat Guzel told AFP, while admitting that the number was "probably much higher". The authorities have also cracked down on media coverage, arresting 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deporting a BBC correspondent and arresting a Swedish reporter who flew into Istanbul to cover the unrest. Although 11 journalists were freed Thursday, among them AFP photographer Yasin Akgul, two more were detained on Friday as was Imamoglu's lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan, who was later granted conditional release. Swedish journalist Joakim Medin, who flew into Turkey on Thursday to cover the demonstrations, was jailed on Friday, his employer Dagens ETC told AFP, saying it was not immediately clear what the charges were. - 'Accusations 100 percent false' - Unconfirmed reports in the Turkish media said Medin was being held for "insulting the president" and belonging to a "terror organisation". "I know that these accusations are false, 100 percent false," Dagens ETC's editor-in-chief Andreas Gustavsson wrote on X account. In a post on social media, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said Stockholm was taking his arrest "seriously". Turkish authorities held BBC journalist Mark Lowen for 17 hours on Wednesday before deporting him on the grounds he posed "a threat to public order", the broadcaster said. Turkey's communications directorate put his deportation down to "a lack of accreditation". Baris Altintas, co-director of MLSA, the legal NGO helping many of the detainees, told AFP the authorities "seem to be very determined on limiting coverage of the protests. "As such, we fear that the crackdown on the press will not only continue but also increase." burs-hmw/ach
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Turkey opposition calls mass rally in Istanbul
Protesters were to join a mass rally in Istanbul Saturday at the call of Turkey's main opposition CHP over the jailing of the city's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a top figure in the party whose arrest has sparked 10 days of the country's biggest street demonstrations in a decade. Imamoglu's detention on March 19 has also prompted a repressive government response that has been sharply condemned by rights groups and drawn criticism from abroad. The rally, which begins at 0900 GMT in Maltepe on the Asian side of Istanbul, is the first such CHP-led gathering since Tuesday and comes on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration marking the end of Ramadan, which starts Sunday. Widely seen as the only Turkish politician capable of challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the ballot box, Imamoglu was elected as the CHP's candidate for the 2028 presidential race on the day he was jailed. "Imamoglu's candidacy for president is the beginning of a journey that will guarantee justice and the nation's sovereignty. Let's go to Maltepe.. and start our march to power together!" CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said on X. The protests over his arrest quickly spread across Turkey, with vast crowds joining mass nightly rallies outside Istanbul City Hall called by the CHP, that often degenerated into running battles with riot police. Although the last such rally was Tuesday, student groups have kept up their own protests, most of them masked despite a police crackdown that has seen nearly 2,000 people arrested. Among them were 20 minors who were arrested between March 22-25, of whom seven remained in custody, the Istanbul Bar Association said Friday. In Istanbul, at least 511 students were detained, many in predawn raids, of whom 275 were jailed, lawyer Ferhat Guzel told AFP, while admitting that the number was "probably much higher". The authorities have also cracked down on media coverage, arresting 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deporting a BBC correspondent and arresting a Swedish reporter who flew into Istanbul to cover the unrest. Although 11 journalists were freed Thursday, among them AFP photographer Yasin Akgul, two more were detained on Friday as was Imamoglu's lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan, who was later granted conditional release. Swedish journalist Joakim Medin, who flew into Turkey on Thursday to cover the demonstrations, was jailed on Friday, his employer Dagens ETC told AFP, saying it was not immediately clear what the charges were. - 'Accusations 100 percent false' - Unconfirmed reports in the Turkish media said Medin was being held for "insulting the president" and belonging to a "terror organisation". "I know that these accusations are false, 100 percent false," Dagens ETC's editor-in-chief Andreas Gustavsson wrote on X account. In a post on social media, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said Stockholm was taking his arrest "seriously". Turkish authorities held BBC journalist Mark Lowen for 17 hours on Wednesday before deporting him on the grounds he posed "a threat to public order", the broadcaster said. Turkey's communications directorate put his deportation down to "a lack of accreditation". Baris Altintas, co-director of MLSA, the legal NGO helping many of the detainees, told AFP the authorities "seem to be very determined on limiting coverage of the protests. "As such, we fear that the crackdown on the press will not only continue but also increase." burs-hmw/ach
Arab News
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Turkiye opposition calls mass rally in Istanbul
Istanbul: Protesters were to join a mass rally in Istanbul Saturday at the call of Turkiye's main opposition CHP over the jailing of the city's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a top figure in the party whose arrest has sparked 10 days of the country's biggest street demonstrations in a decade. Imamoglu's detention on March 19 has also prompted a repressive government response that has been sharply condemned by rights groups and drawn criticism from abroad. The rally, which begins at 0900 GMT in Maltepe on the Asian side of Istanbul, is the first such CHP-led gathering since Tuesday and comes on the eve of the Eid Al-Fitr celebration marking the end of Ramadan, which starts Sunday. Widely seen as the only Turkish politician capable of challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the ballot box, Imamoglu was elected as the CHP's candidate for the 2028 presidential race on the day he was jailed. 'Imamoglu's candidacy for president is the beginning of a journey that will guarantee justice and the nation's sovereignty. Let's go to Maltepe.. and start our march to power together!' CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said on X. The protests over his arrest quickly spread across Turkiye, with vast crowds joining mass nightly rallies outside Istanbul City Hall called by the CHP, that often degenerated into running battles with riot police. Although the last such rally was Tuesday, student groups have kept up their own protests, most of them masked despite a police crackdown that has seen nearly 2,000 people arrested. Among them were 20 minors who were arrested between March 22-25, of whom seven remained in custody, the Istanbul Bar Association said Friday. In Istanbul, at least 511 students were detained, many in predawn raids, of whom 275 were jailed, lawyer Ferhat Guzel told AFP, while admitting that the number was 'probably much higher.' The authorities have also cracked down on media coverage, arresting 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deporting a BBC correspondent and arresting a Swedish reporter who flew into Istanbul to cover the unrest. Although 11 journalists were freed Thursday, among them AFP photographer Yasin Akgul, two more were detained on Friday as was Imamoglu's lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan, who was later granted conditional release. Swedish journalist Joakim Medin, who flew into Turkiye on Thursday to cover the demonstrations, was jailed on Friday, his employer Dagens ETC told AFP, saying it was not immediately clear what the charges were. 'Accusations 100 percent false' Unconfirmed reports in the Turkish media said Medin was being held for 'insulting the president' and belonging to a 'terror organization.' 'I know that these accusations are false, 100 percent false,' Dagens ETC's editor-in-chief Andreas Gustavsson wrote on X account. In a post on social media, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said Stockholm was taking his arrest 'seriously.' Turkish authorities held BBC journalist Mark Lowen for 17 hours on Wednesday before deporting him on the grounds he posed 'a threat to public order,' the broadcaster said. Turkiye's communications directorate put his deportation down to 'a lack of accreditation.' Baris Altintas, co-director of MLSA, the legal NGO helping many of the detainees, told AFP the authorities 'seem to be very determined on limiting coverage of the protests. 'As such, we fear that the crackdown on the press will not only continue but also increase.'
