Turkish police have detained 37 people over social media posts in a crackdown following the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, authorities said on Thursday.
A total of 261 accounts were under investigation for “provocative posts,” including incitement to hatred and encouraging criminal acts, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on the social media platform X. He said 62 of the accounts are based abroad.
İmamoğlu was detained on Wednesday on corruption and terrorism charges, alongside at least 87 other people, according to the state-run news agency Anadolu.
His detention sparked outrage from opposition figures and rights groups, occurring just four days before his secular Republican People’s Party (CHP) was set to nominate him as its presidential candidate.
İmamoğlu is considered a possible challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in presidential elections scheduled for 2028.
Yerlikaya said over 18 million posts related to his detention had been identified on X.
It was not immediately clear if and when İmamoğlu, currently held at the Istanbul police headquarters, would face trial.
If he is convicted on terrorism charges, the Turkish government could replace him with a government-affiliated official.
In Turkey, numerous mayors from the pro-Kurdish Dem Party and, more recently, the CHP have already been removed from office due to terrorism investigations and replaced by pro-government trustees.
The removal of the mayor of Istanbul, a metropolis with a population of 16 million, would be a first.
İmamoğlu urges country to stand against ‘evil’
İmamoğlu and the CHP accused the government of being behind the detention orders and of trying to eliminate a political rival.
In a defiant statement on X, İmamoğlu wrote: “As a nation we must stand against this evil. This is my call to my people.”
He accused Erdoğan’s government of targeting his family and assets, calling on public officials and the judiciary to resist any abuse of power.
“I trust the honourable Turkish judiciary. You cannot and must not remain silent,” he wrote.
“The mind which seized my diploma will confiscate your property, your honour, your estate, and commit all kinds of usurpation and assault,” İmamoğlu added.
One day before his detention, Istanbul University annulled İmamoğlu’s university diploma, a credential necessary for presidential candidacy, further hindering his potential challenge to Erdoğan.
Authorities also seized a construction firm co-owned by İmamoğlu, according to state news agency Anadolu.
Despite a ban imposed by the governor’s office of the Istanbul province, students at Istanbul University protested for a second day on Thursday, local media reported. University student groups called for wider protests on X.
Meanwhile, the CHP said it would proceed with Sunday’s vote to nominate İmamoğlu.
In addition to the official vote by party members, the CHP called on people in Turkey to symbolically vote in solidarity with İmamoğlu at boxes that would be set up nationwide.
Erdoğan’s party denies ‘coup’ claims
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Thursday strongly denied the opposition’s accusations of a “civilian coup.”
In a speech in Ankara, party spokesperson Ömer Çelik called the claims “the height of political irrationality” and denied that Erdoğan’s party had any links to the detention orders.
The government contends the detentions are part of independent investigations.
In 2019, for the first time in 25 years, Islamic conservatives in Turkey lost control of the capital Ankara and Istanbul. İmamoğlu was re-elected as Istanbul mayor in the 2024 polls.
The loss of Turkey’s economic powerhouse Istanbul was a major setback for Erdoğan, whose political rise began in Istanbul, where he was elected mayor in 1994.
Germany’s Scholz criticizes Turkey for detention
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday described the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in Turkey as a “very, very bad sign.”
The detention of such a central opposition politician is “depressing for democracy in Turkey, but certainly also depressing for relations between Europe and Turkey,” Scholz said on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels.
“We can only call for this to end immediately,” Scholz said. The opposition should not be put on trial, but should be able to compete with the government, the chancellor said.
