For the second consecutive night, tens of thousands of people took to the streets across various Turkish cities on Thursday, demanding the release of Ekrem Imamoglu, the popular mayor of Istanbul and one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rivals. In the country’s largest city, more than 10,000 people once again gathered in front of the Metropolitan Municipality building, defying the government delegation’s ban on all public gatherings and demonstrations until the weekend. Several opposition leaders urged citizens to continue protesting to pressure the government.
“Hey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan! The streets are what you fear the most. But from now on, we will be in the streets and squares. You cannot intimidate us; it is you who will be afraid,” declared Özgür Özel, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the main opposition party to which Imamoglu belongs. Özel emphasized that his party was leaving behind “armchair politics” and called on “all democrats” to keep protesting until the mayor and over a hundred other detainees—including several mayors and CHP officials—are freed. He further claimed that they were all victims of a “plot” orchestrated by Erdogan.
The CHP leader urged citizens to participate in the party’s primary elections on Sunday, where Imamoglu is expected to be confirmed as the CHP’s presidential candidate for 2028. To facilitate participation, the party will set up “solidarity ballot boxes” to allow non-members to express their support. According to CHP Secretary General Selin Sayek Böke, 40,000 new members have joined the party in the past two days, bringing its total membership to 1.5 million. Despite Imamoglu’s arrest, the CHP has decided to proceed with the primaries, although concerns remain about the impact of the public gathering ban in Istanbul.
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunç called any protest over an ongoing judicial investigation “illegal and unacceptable.” Erdogan, in a brief statement, accused the opposition of having “lost their minds” by attacking the police and judiciary. He stated that neither he nor his party would waste time with the opposition’s “theatrics”: “The CHP’s problems are not the country’s problems nor the people’s problems, but rather those of a handful of ambitious individuals within the party.”
Protests have continued to spread across major cities, with further demonstrations planned for Friday night. The movement has gained particular momentum in universities, where students have repeatedly outmaneuvered police forces. During the early hours of Friday, hundreds of riot police stormed the Middle East Technical University campus in Ankara, using tear gas, water cannons, and, according to protesters, rubber bullets—though the government denies this. At least one protester was injured.
In Izmir, police broke up a march attempting to reach the headquarters of Erdogan’s AKP party using batons and tear gas. In response, authorities have banned all public events and demonstrations in the province for five days. A similar ban has been imposed in Ankara, although the opposition has stated it will not comply.
According to the Interior Ministry, 16 police officers have been injured across the country. So far, 53 protesters have been arrested, along with 54 others accused of inciting demonstrations via social media.
These protests are now considered the largest since the Gezi Park uprising in 2013, the most significant challenge Erdogan has faced in over two decades in power. The president still refers to those protests as a conspiracy driven by “foreign forces” and continues to use them to prosecute activists and journalists.
Hüseyin Rasit Yilmaz, from the Institute of Social Studies, warned in an interview with digital media outlet Medyascope that the current situation is even more dire than in 2013. “Back then, young people wanted the government to fall, but they still saw a future in Turkey. Now they don’t. There are 20 million young people in the country, many of whom are angry, stuck in economic hardship, unable to afford housing or even a simple night out with their partner. Provoking their anger is dangerous.”
At the end of Özel’s speech in front of the municipality, some protesters called for a march toward Taksim Square, the epicenter of the Gezi protests, which has been barricaded by police since Wednesday. The CHP leader rejected the idea, arguing that protecting the municipality building was the priority. The opposition fears that the government could use Imamoglu’s arrest as a pretext to take control of the municipality, which manages a vast budget and numerous affiliated enterprises.
On top of the two investigations launched against Imamoglu on Wednesday—one for corruption and another for alleged collaboration with a terrorist organization—a third case was opened on Friday, accusing him of opening municipal daycare centers at affordable prices, which the government claims falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education.
