(19 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Istanbul, Turkey – 19 March 2025
1. Various of city hall exterior
2. SOUNDBITE (Turkish) Sami Ececelik, 69, pensioner:
"I am 79 years old and have three children. I want my three children to live in a beautiful country, work in a beautiful Turkey. Because this government must now understand that with fear you cannot prevent the inevitable."
3. Various of supporters chanting (Turkish) “Either alone, all together or none of us”
4. SOUNDBITE (Turkish) Hikmet Centik, 56, pensioner:
"What was done (arrest) is definitely unlawful. Unlawful and baseless. This is not democracy. It’s a sham of democracy. The people do not deserve this. We are upset of course. As humans, we are upset."
5. Supporters waving Turkish flags chanting (Turkish) “We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal (Turkey’s founder)”
STORYLINE:
Thousands of people protested the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu outside city hall in Istanbul on Thursday.
Turkish police on Wednesday arrested Imamoglu — a popular opposition leader and key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — and several other prominent figures as part of investigations into alleged corruption and terror links.
The detention of Imamoglu was a dramatic escalation in a crackdown on the opposition and dissenting voices in Turkey.
Authorities closed several roads around Istanbul and banned demonstrations in the city for four days in an apparent effort to prevent protests following the arrest.
Despite the ban, people gathered at Istanbul’s police headquarters, carrying posters of the mayor and banners with his photo around their shoulders. Others chanted slogans and raised their fists in the air as riot police cordoned off the facility.
56-year-old pensioner Hikmet Centik, who joined the protest, called the arrest "unlawful and baseless."
Critics say the crackdown follows significant losses by Erdogan’s ruling party in local elections last year amid growing calls for early national elections.
Government officials insist that the courts operate independently and reject claims that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated.
AP Video by Latif Yurt
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