Latest news with #CumhuriyetHalkPartisi
Al Arabiya
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Turkish prosecutors add charges of forging diploma against jailed Istanbul mayor
Turkish prosecutors charged Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Friday with falsifying his university diploma, a new case threatening more years in prison for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main rival, already jailed pending corruption charges he denies. Imamoglu, at the center of a sprawling legal crackdown on the main opposition party, has been jailed since March 23 pending trial. He denies the allegations against him, which his party says are orchestrated to protect Erdogan in power. His indictment over his diploma was reported by Milliyet newspaper, which said prosecutors were seeking eight years and nine months of prison time for the new charges. Reuters could not immediately obtain the document. On March 18, Istanbul University said it had annulled Imamoglu's diploma. He was detained a day later on the corruption charges, triggering Turkey's largest protests in a decade, and later jailed pending trial. His detention has drawn sharp criticism from opposition parties and some foreign leaders, who call the case politically motivated and anti-democratic. The government denies the case is political. Imamoglu is the main opposition Republican People's Party's presidential candidate in any future election. He won re-election as mayor in March last year by a wide margin against a candidate from Erdogan's ruling AK Party.
CNN
31-05-2025
- General
- CNN
Turkish authorities escalate crackdown on opposition-run Istanbul municipality
Turkish authorities escalated their crackdown on the opposition-run Istanbul municipality Saturday over alleged corruption charges, detaining 30 people. Those held include a former MP of the main opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP, and the mayors of three CHP-run districts of Istanbul. State-run Anadolu Agency reported that the detentions were part of four separate corruption investigations involving the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Saturday's detentions are the fifth wave of a legal crackdown against the Istanbul administration since March 19, when Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested on corruption charges. The arrest of Imamoglu, who is seen as the most viable challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 22-year rule, sparked widespread demonstrations calling for his release and an end to Turkey's democratic backsliding under Erdogan. The opposition and its supporters claim his arrest, and the subsequent arrest of dozens more from the CHP, are politically motivated. 'This time the coup didn't come with boots and tanks, but with prosecutor's robes,' said CHP chairman Ozgur Ozel on Saturday before a crowd of supporters in the northwestern city of Duzce. However, the government insists Turkey's judiciary is independent and free of political influence. The second crackdown on CHP-run municipalities and districts occurred in late April, and the third and fourth waves were in late May, resulting in dozens of detentions.
